


My Heat Will Go On

by SpaceWaffleHouseTM



Series: Movie AUs [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Kylo Ren, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Titanic Fusion, Angst, Ben is Rose, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Heat Sex, Historical Inaccuracy, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, No Pregnancy, Omega Finn, Omega Poe Dameron, Omega Rey (Star Wars), Omega/Omega, Rey is Jack, Smut, Unsafe Sex, any questions?, author got dared to write this, no character death on this one boys, rey takes no shit, we fluffing this ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:20:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22514611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWaffleHouseTM/pseuds/SpaceWaffleHouseTM
Summary: Lucky Omega Rey wins a third class ticket to America on the Titanic. Rich, miserable Alpha Ben holds a first class ticket to a life he doesn’t want. Another tale as old as time unfolds, but this time with... heat.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Movie AUs [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1467730
Comments: 311
Kudos: 605
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	1. First Sight

**Author's Note:**

> 1) I am so sorry for the pun title I really am
> 
> 2) this started a few months ago in the reylo_prompts server and I got dared to write an abo in 14 days during February so uh I never back down from a dare and this happened. 
> 
> 3) pray for me

Nothing was more vast than an ocean. To someone who’d done a world of traveling, this was the clearest and most absolute fact in the realm of knowledge stored in their brain. It was the core of their being, and the more ships one sailed on the more they knew how endless the ocean could seem, how easy it was to become lost in it. 

For an artist, it could become a place of inspiration, somewhere where she could get lost forever in her own imagination and conjure images of grand things she could never grasp. When one didn’t have money, no matter how much they traveled or how much they saw the ocean, they would never quite be able to wield anything of power with their own hands. 

Not that Rey needed power, but the idea of having to not scavenge for food some nights and just being able to pay for it was appealing. Overall, she couldn’t tell if it was because she was poor or because at the age of thirteen she’d presented as an omega, but power, riches, money, and an extravagant lifestyle had never been something she craved. 

Her designation gave her an outlook on life that she liked to think of as relaxed, that made her at peace. Sure, not all omegas were poor or were satisfied with being poor, but a lack of alpha pheromones certainly helped keep her head a bit more level-- _she liked to think._

Life in general had always been something she took as a gift, and she didn’t intend on wasting it. So what if she was poorer than dirt? She’d seen more of the world than most people would in their lifetimes, and she was only nineteen. 

A nineteen year old broke artist was in charge of her own destiny, and usually, she left that destiny up to fate and a game of luck. 

There was something in the thrill of her life being able to change at any given moment. Through games of poker, clever pick-pocketing, and several bets she never should’ve taken, Rey had made her way through life as easily as someone like her possibly could. She’d been able to leave Southampton as a child and see the world, see all those oceans she loved for god’s sakes, but eventually she’d chosen to come home, wanting to see one last time if she could make it work where she was from the way she thought she might in her youth.

Southampton, of course, grew tiring quickly, and Rey had decided quickly that she wanted to move on. This meant she needed to raise the funds to board a ship that would take her away, sailing her across the sea and back over to America, back over to where she’d made the most precious of her memories. 

She had friends there, a found family. Rose and Paige Tico were perhaps two of the greatest women she’d ever met. Both alphas, the sisters took a fierce protectiveness to her, and for the first time, she understood what it was like to mean something to someone. 

It was still a feeling she wasn’t used to. She wasn’t used to mattering to people, but she mattered to them, and she knew she needed to go back. 

One April morning, she finally made the move to do so. Throwing all of her things--a couple of shirts and underwear, really, she only owned one pair of trousers and shoes--into her satchel, Rey tossed on her coat, and headed out the door for the nearest pub. The fastest way to get money out of people was through a poker game, and since she’d been playing from about the age of nine? 

She was one _hell_ of a poker player. 

The sun was shining as she stepped out onto the streets, walking along the edge of the docks where all the great steamships and luxury liners came to pick up travelers of all classes and designations. That day, the tenth of April, 1912, the biggest one in the world sat waiting in the harbor, and if she were to try and say that she wasn’t intimidated and awed by the sheer size of the ship--the Titanic--she would have been lying. 

It was taller than most buildings she’d seen and wider than any other ship she’d boarded. The paint was pristine, the white sparkling in the sunlight to the point where it was nearly blinding, and as a result, her jaw was hanging open as she gaped at it like a fish, struggling not to stop pedestrian traffic as she marveled at the sight. 

Maybe if she was lucky in this poker game, she’d save up enough money to board this ship one day when it came back from wherever the hell it was going. It was probably a pipe dream, but she couldn’t help wondering if maybe, just maybe, she’d ever get her chance to know luxury like that. 

Shivers running down her spine, she forced herself to walk onward, heading into the nearest pub with a sense of anticipation building up inside of her that she couldn’t quite explain. It puzzled her, sending her thoughts into a frenzy as she made her way to the corner of the room where a game was already ongoing, and reached into her pockets to salvage what little money she had to bet. 

As she sat down, she could smell the tension in the air, rising off of her fellow players--all alpha men, she observed, which she hoped wouldn’t cause her any difficulty if she won that day but she wasn’t optimistic--along with their pheromones. This close to her heat--likely days away if she was keeping track of dates properly--that would probably become an issue, but she didn’t care, she couldn’t afford to. She was a damned good player even when she was in the thick of it. 

Not even the pain of going through a heat could stop her. Nothing could. 

So Rey sat down, laid her money out on the table, and looked the Alpha sitting on the opposite side of it to her in the eye, giving him a nod as the corners of her mouth twitched into a smile. “Deal me in,” she told him, watching him blink his surprise with a joy in hers she didn’t quite know how to express, then she sat back, and gazed upon the lucky hand she’d just been dealt. 

Looking around the table at the men and all the money they’d laid on it, Rey let her face become neutral, her poker face taking over her initial wonder as she prepared to lay on them a devastating blow. 

Someone’s life was about to change, and she knew without the slightest hint of doubt, it was going to be hers. 

**

Closer to the ship, a Renault Coup de Ville pulled up to the boarding area with as grand a flourish as a driver could muster with a car. It’s red paint was tinged a bright ruby in the light, the warmth of the sun heating the dark paint to a point that would’ve been blistering to anyone who touched it with their bare hands. 

Luckily for the people inside, they were rich enough that they could afford gloves made of the finest silks and leathers money could buy. The Organa-Solos came from a long line of the richest Alphas in America, dating back to rich English roots that gave them family they still visited to that day. One of those visits was the reason they’d been in Southampton in the first place, well, that, and Ben Organa-Solo, the only son of Han and Leia, needed to introduce the fiance his parents had matched him with to their extended family. 

Four months ago, he’d been matched to a young, equally rich southern woman by the name of Bazine Netal, and while the beta woman wasn’t a bad person by any means, she simply didn’t do anything for him. He felt no affection towards her the way he wanted to for someone who was meant to be his future wife--he wanted to, he truly did, but he knew deep in his heart that there was simply nothing there between himself and his fiance. 

Sometimes he would try to feel something for her, and during their trip to Europe, he’d thought for a second he’d started to warm toward her, but he hadn’t. He’d actually spent less time with her, and that had been the reason for his joy. Realizing that on the night before they were due to travel left him feeling empty and deprived of joy all over again, and he couldn’t help looking at her as they got out of the car that had taken them to the Titanic now, and feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt all over again. 

Not that he could feel guilty for long, though. Seconds after he stepped out of the car, he got his first glimpse of the ship that would be taking him home to America, and suddenly he felt the reversal of his present feelings--he felt _underwhelmed_. “It’s not as large as you said it would be,” he told his mother as he turned back to help her get out of the car. “It can’t be longer than the Mauritania.”

Behind him, he heard the somewhat high pitched laugh of his fiance as she came up to take the arm that wasn’t currently being held by his mother. “You’re difficult to impress, aren’t you, Ben?” she asked, then she turned to his mother. “Mrs. Organa-Solo, is there anything I can possibly do to impress your son? I’d thought the Titanic would be enough to win his smile, but I appear to have been mistaken.”

“Ben? Smiling? Once in a blue moon if we’re lucky,” Leia replied, then she let go of her son’s arm, and turned to Bazine’s butler, a tall, Irish beta by the name of Armitage Hux. “Take our luggage to the loading bay, please, and make sure they’re gentle with it, you know how my son gets about his paintings.”

“Yes ma’am,” Armitage replied, then he summoned over one of the stewards to assist him in the task as Ben, Bazine, and his mother all looked up at the giant ship, watching as it loomed over their heads. 

In that moment, Ben realized all over again just how badly he didn’t want to go back to America. For a second while they’d been away, he’d been able to pretend that his life wasn’t about to be full of slightly different versions of the same day over and over again until he died. He’d been able to forget just how miserable and lifeless he always felt, how he had been so depressed he hadn’t even had a rut in months. 

As they walked up to the ramp that would lead them on board, stewards and stewardesses in well kept, brand new uniforms kept on smiling at him and offering him gestures of welcome with every step he took. He tried to smile back, but something was developing deep in his gut that gave him a feeling not unlike a prisoner being led to the gallows for execution. He felt like he was being dragged on board in chains, like he was passing a point of no return even though this was just the start of a new journey. 

Titanic was a marvel of modern technology, the pinacle of human pride thus far, but to him it was the object of torture, and he wanted nothing more than to break free and run away into the depths of the city behind him. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. His only true option was to remain numb, to shut himself down and pretend this was a bad dream and it wasn’t happening to him, but to someone else, that he was viewing it from someone else’s eyes. It was in this manner that time began to pass quickly, that he finally felt free of the pain he was feeling, and a part of him, for at least a little while, stopped living. 

**

That afternoon, as the ship plowed on toward Cherbourg, the first stop in its destination, Rey sat back on the deck lounging on a bench as she held her sketchbook in her lap, and casually sketched two men as they chatted on the stern of the ship, leaning against the railing as they watched the Titanic’s wake drift out to sea. The sun was beginning to head toward the final stretch of its journey across the sky, the light gaining a slight orange hue that painted their smiling faces as she sketched them with a piece of charcoal darker than the evening sky on a moonless night. 

A soft scent drifted in from the breeze coming off the ocean, giving away the designation of the two smiling omegas on the ship’s stern as one of them pointed out something stirring around in the ship’s waves. It wasn’t a scent that drove her wild or made her feel like she was about to fly over some edge, but as she watched the pair, she found herself still drawn to them, drawing them in perfect likeness on the paper until they moved back, and suddenly she was caught. 

“Like what you see?” One of them asked, earning himself a smack on the shoulder from his friend. 

“Poe,” the other grumbled, but the look of annoyance in his eyes held an undercurrent of affection as they approached Rey. “I’m sorry about him, miss, he’s a menace to society.”

“That’s all right,” she assured them, turning her drawing around to reveal her work. “I’m pretty sure most of society wouldn’t approve of drawing random strangers without their permission either.”

The first man—Poe—laughed as he sat beside her on the bench, staring at the drawing as his friend sat on her other side. “It’s incredible work, miss…?”

“I’m Rey,” she told him, offering her hand, and waiting for him to shake it before she gave him a warm smile. 

“Poe, and the gentleman on your right is Finn.”

“How do you do?” Finn asked as she then turned and shook his hand. 

“Quite well, and yourself?”

“I’m doing good.” He shifted as he looked at the drawing. “That’s exquisite work.”

A blush crept up her cheeks, undoubtedly enhanced by the increasingly orange hue of the sunset. “Thank you.”

Laughter echoed in her ears from Poe, whose gaze was now drawn up to the first class deck which overlooked their section of the ship. Above them, people dressed in their finest day wear were strolling casually about on the deck, moving about without a care in the world or any problems weighing down their shoulders. Yet somehow they didn’t look free, they even looked like they were all in some sort of hypnotic trance, some sort of daze, and Rey couldn’t put her finger on why. 

“You’re good enough to have a ticket up there,” Poe said after a moment. “How come you’re sleeping with the rats?”

“I didn’t see that many rats below deck.”

Finn laughed in response to that. “What he means is you have the talent to sell your art for millions. Why don’t you?”

Unsure of how to answer that, Rey looked up to the first class deck again just as the doors opened, and another well dressed man stepped out onto its wooden floors with something that surprised her—his face bore an expression. The man was tall, broad, and had the most expressive face she’d ever seen. Even from a distance she could see misery tainting his eyes, could see them misting over as his lips formed into a hint of a scowl, his fingers gripping the railing so tightly as he leaned against it that even in the warm-toned light, she could see them going paler than the sheets. 

He looked so full of sorrow and regret, she couldn’t fathom how he’d come to feel this way, but that wasn’t the only thing about him that she found captivating. The stranger’s raven hair shone in the light, almost appearing as if it was black smoke with hints of embers speckled throughout like a dying fire. Lips hued a deep pink were parted to take in slow, steady breaths as he closed his eyes, as if he were struggling to calm himself down. 

She was concerned for him, worried for what the hell could make a first class man fall apart enough to show emotions, but beyond that, she found herself struck with the realization that this man was beautiful. He was truly striking in his appearance, and though she hadn’t meant to just stare at him, he’d caught her off guard. 

Suddenly, his eyes opened, and as if he could feel her staring, he looked over in her direction, and suddenly they were making eye contact, staring one another dead in the eye over what felt like a great distance, but must’ve been only fifty feet. She knew nothing about him, she didn’t know his history, designation, or his name, but somehow she could see into the very soul of him with that stare, and a vague part of her registered that Finn and Poe were trying to bring her back to earth, but she was a bit too lost. 

The stranger looked away, and as the breeze caught his hair, she watched as he then looked back, irritated by the waves that had suddenly invaded his eyes, and met her gaze once more. She found herself unable to hold back a giggle, then much to her surprise and delight, he actually cracked a tiny smile. 

For a few seconds as they continued staring, everything felt surreal, like she was under some kind of spell, but then the doors behind him opened again, and a shorter, dark haired woman came out, and put a hand on his arm. The scowl returned to his face as he listened to what she had to say, then he made his way inside the ship, both of them retreating back into their world of champagne, brandy, and endless money. 

“You all right there, Juliet?” Poe teased, nudging her shoulder as she turned back around. 

Still reeling from what had just happened, Rey laughed nervously, and stood up to watch as the last visible pieces of the stranger and the woman disappeared from sight. “We should probably get inside. They’ll be serving dinner soon,” she said, then the other two got up, and they headed toward the third class entrance. 

The spell was finally broken now that he was gone, but as he left, she caught a new scent on the breeze that had wafted down from his deck to hers that stole her right back into it for a split second just before they opened the door that would lead them to their decks. It was unmistakably masculine and yet a little sweet, but it was also undoubtedly the scent of pure _Alpha_ , and as she looked back at the door to the first class entrance one last time, she became aware that the Magic wasn’t over. This wasn’t the last she and this stranger would be seeing of each other. 

She had to know what made this man, this _alpha,_ so miserable, what made him hate his life to the point where he was openly putting his emotions on display for all to see. One way or another, she was going to find out. Their paths would cross again. 

It was only a matter of time. 


	2. Don’t Let Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends, so as this is a Titanic AU, I’m putting a suicidal thoughts TW on this chapter because well, like Rose like Ben, you know?
> 
> **also yes, this is updating every day since the challenge was to write the whole thing in the 14 days leading up to Valentine’s Day. See you all tomorrow for chapter 3!

The next two days passed in a blur. After docking at Cherbourg, the ship made its way out toward Queens, then out to the ocean, but Ben barely processed it. He was too busy losing himself to his own misery, drowning in his own sorrows. It felt like everyone around him either didn’t know or didn’t care to see his suffering, and he felt like a dam about to break.

The pressure was mounting to an intense point, and he before he knew it, he’d reached his limit. 

It happened at dinner. The conversation was droning on, just carrying endlessly into the same old tired topics. That would’ve been fine, he could’ve ignored that, but then they started talking about Ben’s wedding—then they started talking about how many children he and Bazine would have, and he couldn’t take it. He could see his life playing out in front of him, the same faces and names, the same conversations repeated over and over again with different synonyms, and probably even the same weather day by day. 

Feeling his heart pounding in his chest, Ben politely excused himself from the table, muttering some excuse about needing some air, then he made his way to his stateroom as quickly yet inconspicuously as he could. The whole journey, he could feel his blood beginning to boil beneath his skin, like he was on fire, and after so long without emotions, his mind was going wild. 

He barely remembered nodding to people as he passed them by, barely remembered telling some of his fellow passengers to have a good evening, or the walk to the stateroom, opening the door, or when he stopped walking. All he knew was that he wound up holding onto the sides of the wood-framed mirror on the far end of his bedroom, gripping onto it so tightly his knuckles had turned a spectacular shade of white. 

His attention caught, he looked up into the mirror’s glassy reflection, catching sight of his own red, bloodshot eyes as he realized that for the first time since childhood, he’d shed tears. They were wet, thick, and salty, leaving stains down his cheeks as they made his way to the edge of his jaw, then fell off to the floor. 

This wasn’t the life he wanted, this left him no freedom. He had all the money in the world, and theoretically he should’ve been free to do whatever he wished, but he couldn’t. In spite of having what should’ve been freedom, he had chains, and in that moment, all Ben wanted to do was end the life he’d been given and finally free himself from those iron shackles. 

The man in the mirror seemed to want the same thing, but he also seemed to be pleading with him through his eyes to not do this.  _ There’s another way _ , those eyes seemed to tell him.  _ You don’t have to do this.  _

He did, though, he felt it in his bones. There was no other way out. He was trapped, cornered, and he wasn’t just going to live out his days content in his misery. 

Ben was going to  _ run.  _

Pushing himself off of the mirror, Ben ran as fast as his feet would carry him, running on through the halls of the ship once more as he prayed for some kind of relief from this pain. It hurt more than words could say, like he was being stabbed everywhere at once, but from the inside out. 

This time he pushed people aside, running through them like they were nothing as he frantically rushed up onto the surface of the ship, struggling to find his way up as the world blurred around him like he was drunk. Maybe he was, he’d had quite a bit of the brandy at dinner, but he didn’t remember that now. All his mind was capable of processing were thoughts of,  _ run, run, run, run _ , and not much else. 

Breaking out onto the cold upper deck, he shoved past people in earnest, undoubtedly receiving glares and shouts to watch where he was going as he passed, but he didn’t care. He ignored every single one. All he could see was the night sky in the distance, the railing at the edge of the ship’s stern drawing closer with every step. 

He ran faster than he ever had before, jumping over the gate separating the first class portion of the deck from the third, and briefly, his thoughts were distracted by the vague, warm scent of something familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Not that it mattered much anyways, he was trying to run away from everything including the scent that had briefly made him smile. Continuing on, his feet slammed down against the wood paneling of the ship’s deck until he crashed into the stern’s railing. 

Suddenly, he’d found a new thing to white knuckle, and he was all out of ship, nowhere else to go, he was cornered physically now, he had nowhere to run. 

Nowhere but the black, cold expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Swallowing, Ben looked back at the rest of the ship, vision blurred by the mist in his eyes, then he looked back at the sea swirling in the depths below. It looked threatening and uninviting, yet beautiful, like a siren’s call to death. 

It was also the only place he had left to go, and he bit his lip to keep a sob from wrenching itself free from his throat, then he reached for the flagpole at the center of the stern, and gripped it tight, his every breath shuddering in his chest as he pulled himself up, and began to climb the railing level by level. He moved slowly, fighting the part of him that still desperately wanted to try and survive this, but he knew there wasn’t a way out. Not one he could see, at least. 

Shakily, he began to descend down the steps on the other side of the stern, holding on tightly to every piece of the railing to keep himself from falling before he was ready. His heart was pounding in his ears as he looked back at the Titanic, the lights swimming in his vision as he took one last look at everything he was leaving behind, then he slowly turned around to stare at the blackness that was the ocean. 

Leaning out over the waves—but keeping a firm grip on the railing—Ben could see them churning from the propellers below. Nerves began to ignite in his body, and he leaned back against the railing, gripping it tightly as he closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He had to do this. There wasn’t another way to leave this life, and so he opened his eyes, taking one last deep breath as he began to release his fingers from the railing. 

Eight fingers on the railing and he could smell the familiar scent he’d caught a minute ago and first caught wind of the day before, it was sweet, music to his sense of smell, and comforting in this moment of his death. Six fingers and it only grew stronger, more intense, like the omega it belonged to was right behind him. 

Shaking his head, he tried to forget the smell that was slowly overwhelming him, and focused on leaning out further and further toward the ocean, closing his eyes as he prepared to let go entirely—

“Don’t!” a voice cried, the scent of pure omega hitting his nose, and suddenly, there was another way out. 

**

The night was full of stars, each and every one glistening above her as the ship cut through the icy glass of the Atlantic. Rey sighed as she watched a shooting star cut across the night sky, cigarette smoke leaving her lips to fog the twinkling lights ever so briefly. 

In spite of the brief blur in her vision, it was still beautiful, but it was also so cold outside that it was blurred by the fog of her next breath anyway. That was only to be expected from a cold April night like this, though, she supposed, and they were in the North Atlantic. This was just par for the course. 

At least she was bundled up. She was lucky. Unlike many passengers of her class, one of her few possessions was a thick coat, one which kept out any and all cold she encountered. Right then, it was keeping her as warm and toasty as it would’ve on a night by a campfire. 

A smile blossomed on her face as she raised her cigarette to her lips, and took another drag from it, inhaling deeply as the scent of cigarette smoke and something else filled her nostrils. That something else caused her to sit up abruptly as heavy footsteps came up from behind her, then rushed onward towards the edge of the stern, and her heart began pounding in her chest as she remembered the spell from yesterday and the brief smile on the sad man’s face. 

This was the Alpha who had captured her attention the day before, and now she had the chance to speak with him. 

Pushing herself off of the bench with the hand that wasn’t holding the cigarette, Rey rushed to her feet, then she strolled casually to the back of the deck, not wishing to alarm him as she walked up the steps that led to the actual stern of the ship. They may have had some sort of connection the day before, but that didn’t mean he welcomed strangers just running after him. 

Taking another drag from her cigarette, she walked up onto the stern’s deck, stopping briefly in shock as she noticed where the Alpha she’d encountered the day before was now standing. Smoke left her lungs in a rush, and she nearly dropped her cigarette as she caught sight of him standing on the wrong side of the railing, leaning out over the ocean as he looked down into its depths. 

That scent of his had never been more strong than it was in that moment, and though she wanted nothing more than to breathe it in, there was a more pressing matter at hand—the matter of saving his life—and so she stepped forward, reaching out with one hand as she cried out, “ _ Don’t!” _ and suddenly his eyes were on her. 

Unlike the day before, there was no smile on his face, only tear tracks. His cheeks were stained by salt water and the whites of his eyes were red, the color seeming darker, like crimson against his dark brown irises, and she suddenly saw the sheer depth of his misery. This man, this first class citizen with enough money to buy the world, had somehow found himself in circumstances that were so bad, so dire, that he felt he had no way out but to plummet to the bottom of the ocean. 

“Stay back,” he ordered her, his voice deep but shaky as he spoke. “Don’t come any closer.”

The Omega in her wanted to listen to him, wanted to turn back and walk away as he asked, but she’d never been one to obey an Alpha’s command before and she wasn’t going to change that now. “I can’t do that,” she said, stepping closer as she watched him readjust his grip on the railing, clinging tightly to it as the part of him that wanted to live fought for dominance over the part that didn’t. 

“I mean it!” he growled, and this time there was a terrifying look in his eyes that gave her pause. “I’ll let go!”

Sighing, Rey put her cigarette to her lips, and inhaled deeply. “All right. Mind if I throw this overboard though?” she asked, watching him carefully as she approached the railing on his left side, looking him in the eyes as she took one last drag, then threw the damned thing into the ocean before she leaned against the white rail. “Seriously, though you don’t want to do this.”

He scoffed. “You don’t know me, you have no idea what I want.” Sniffing the air, he blinked his surprise. “ _Omega_.” Spoken like it was an insult.

Two could play at that game. “You’re right,” she replied, then she leaned against the rail, looking out over the water with him. “ _Alpha_. I don’t know you, but I know you’re not going to jump.”

“How?”

“You would’ve done it already.”

He glared at her then, and she could sense he was trying to intimidate her into backing off, but she wasn’t leaving here until she had the chance to see him safely back down to the first class. “Just leave me alone.”

Sighing again, Rey began to take off her coat. If she couldn’t convince him to save himself, maybe she could convince him to save them both. “Okay.”

“What are you doing?” he asked, watching as Rey dropped her coat to the deck, then bent down to undo the laces of her boots. 

“Someone’s going to have to save your arse when you go down,” she told him, then she shuddered. “I’m not looking forward to it, though. The water’s freezing and I’m not in heat.”

Something made him shiver, then he looked back down at the water once more before he looked at her. “H-how cold?”

Shrugging, she tossed one boot on top of her coat, then she looked out at the ocean before undoing the laces of the other. “Below freezing. I once jumped into the Thames in February on a dare?” She shivered at the thought, recalling the pain she’d felt when she’d fallen beneath the surface, barely able to swim up because she suddenly couldn’t feel her limbs. “The pain was unimaginable. It was the most horrific thing I’d ever felt.”

“I-I’m sorry,” he said, sympathy showing on his face as he leaned back against the rail.  _ Good.  _ That was a good sign. If he was leaning closer to the ship maybe it meant he would come back. 

“Don’t be, it was my own damn fault, but you need to be aware that if the propellers don’t chop you to bits, the water will make you wish you’d never been born.”

“I already wish I’d never been born,” he muttered, then he caught her eye and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Swallowing nervously, Rey stepped closer to him, and held out her hand. “Come back over. I promise whatever you’re running away from, there’s a different way to do it. You’re young, you’ve got a lot of time—“

“I’ll come,” he said suddenly, causing her to blink from shock as she stepped closer to him, watching as he turned around so that his body once more was facing the ship. “But only because I don’t want you to jump in after me.”

“How can I be worth saving if your own life isn’t?” she asked, then she reached out for his hand. “If I am worth saving, then you are, too, sir. Don’t live for me. Live for  _ yourself _ .”

His lower lip began to tremble as he let go of the railing with one hand, and reached out for hers. Her heart began to race as she watched it get closer and closer, reaching for her until suddenly his warm skin touched hers, and her breath hitched in her chest as she looked up into his eyes, and saw light shining in them for the first time. It was like some kind of electric shock had passed between them, and as she gripped his hand, she could feel some sort of pull between her soul and his, like whatever spell had been cast between them the day before was back in full force. 

And she didn’t even know his name. 

“I’m Rey,” she told him abruptly, reaching out with her other hand to steady his arm as he gripped the flagpole, and began climbing up the ship’s rail. 

“Ben Organa-Solo,” he replied. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Ben.” 

He laughed nervously, then he let go of the flagpole as he reached up for her other hand, stepping onto the next prong of railing with a smile on his face—

The next sound out of either of them was a scream that pierced the night, haunting Rey’s ears already as Ben suddenly slipped, and began to fall from the ship’s deck. Gripping him with an inhuman strength, she stopped the sudden fall, holding tight to his arm with both of hers as his hand gripped desperately at her wrist. The way they were holding each other would undoubtedly leave bruises later, but they could worry about that when she pulled him back to safety. 

“ _ Fuck! _ ” he shouted, reaching desperately for the railing with one hand. 

“I’ve got you!” She grunted as she pulled up, nearly falling over herself because of his weight. “I’ve got you, I won’t let go.”

Panting hard, Ben finally got his grip on the railings, both of them shouting helplessly as he began to climb up, and before she knew it, her muscles began to feel the burn of holding him as they collapsed to the deck together. 

It happened so fast, she wasn’t even sure it had happened at all, and she wouldn’t have believed it if it weren’t for her weight crushing him into the deck, and the sound of his shaky breaths in her ear, ghosting over her mating gland—and under any other circumstances, this would’ve made her shiver—as he continued to hold her hand tightly to his chest. Both of them were panting hard, barely able to process the fact that they were still alive as they clung to one another. 

Relief flooded her veins as she whispered to him that he was all right, that he was going to be okay, but she didn’t have time for anything else. All she was able to do was pull back from him a ways, looking into his eyes for a split second before suddenly footsteps were charging up the deck, and she looked over to see a group of the ship’s officers running toward them, suspicion already rife in their eyes. 

Looking down at Ben, she hurriedly crawled off of him, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She’d been caught on top of a first class passenger and in their eyes she was just a common rat. She knew who they’d find at fault here, and no matter what she did, she was about to have one hell of a long night. 

She just hoped Ben didn’t get caught in the crossfire. 


	3. Invitation to Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woefully unedited but 🤘

A blanket had been wrapped around his shoulders and he had been led over to a bench, safe and warm on the correct side of the ship’s rails, but Ben felt anything but calm. His emotions were still warring, absolutely raging as the officers handcuffed his savior, rendering him in far too much shock to do anything. 

He had just almost died, he had nearly fallen into the depths of the Atlantic and lost his life, and this woman, this Omega, this angel sent from heaven, had found him in the nick of time and saved him. He owed her everything, his fortune, his life; whatever she wanted, she could take. Perhaps biology traditionally wanted him to command her, but right then, as he looked up at her, strong and defiant even in the face of her arrest, he knew he would also obey any command she gave him, give her anything she asked for. 

If she wanted him to stay alive, he would live. 

His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of his mother’s voice, followed by Bazine’s; both women calling out to him with concern rife in their voices as suddenly heels clicked on deck, and he turned to see the two women and his fiancé’s butler, Armitage, making their way toward him. “Ben!” the first of the three shouted, and he watched, still half awake, as she walked up the deck toward him. “We came as soon as we could, what happened?”

“He was being hassled by a thief,” one of the officers replied. “An omega, no less.”

The words were spoken with disdain, like his savior’s designation made her lesser, weaker somehow, and that made his blood begin to boil. She’d just saved his life, and nearly gone overboard to do it. She was owed praise and reverence, she… she was impossible, but she was standing right there across from him, her hands being bound in cuffs as the officers wrongfully arrested her for something she didn’t do. 

His shock was starting to wear off. The time to act was soon. 

“How dare you lay a hand on my fiancé?” Bazine was asking Rey, practically snarling the words at her as she got well and truly angry for the first time since he’d met her. He’d always known she had a rougher edge to her, but he’d never been able to predict, to gauge just how deep that ran. “Answer me, you f—“

“Bazine,” he interrupted, his voice shaky as he spoke her name. 

“What could possibly make you think—?”

“Bazine!” he shouted this time, standing up as he cast off the blanket he’d been given, and shook his head. “Enough, it was an accident.”

This time, it was his mother who blinked at him. “An accident?”

Nodding enthusiastically, he finally regained full and complete control of his body. “Yes,” he replied, then he cleared his throat, looking Rey in the eyes, and spitting confusion within the hazel depths of her irises.  _ It’ll be okay _ , he thought to them both, knowing full well she couldn’t read his mind. Perhaps, though, she could read his intent through his eyes, maybe through that connection he knew they shared, he could find some sort of sign that she knew they would be all right. “It was funny, honestly. I was curious about the machinery of the Titanic, so I walked out to the stern…” He locked eyes with the woman who’d saved his life, and he could tell she was starting to understand what he was trying to do. “I guess I leaned over a little bit too far, because I—I fell! But Rey saved me.”

His mother’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “She what?”

“She caught my hand, pulled me up, and we went crashing onto the deck, which is why you found her on top of me,” he admitted, then he laughed. “Neither of us moved for a minute. I think we were both in too much shock.”

Blinking in surprise, his fiancé stared at Rey. “Is this true?”

Locking eyes with her, Ben pleaded for his savior to say  _ yes.  _ If his family found out that he’d fled to the stern of the Titanic to end his life, he’d be sent away and locked up somewhere for the rest of his life. His sanity would be rendered null and void, and maybe it wasn’t in stellar condition right now, but he deserved better than  _ this.  _

Luckily for him, their connection ran deep already, and Rey began to nod. “Yes, that is what happened.”

“She’s a hero then,” said the officer who’d done her cuffs, already reaching into his pocket for the key. “Well done, young lady.”

A flush crept up Rey’s cheeks as the officers worked to remove the cuffs from her wrists, then his family began to offer her their thanks. “Thank you for saving my son’s life,” Leia told her, offering her a hand once she was free of her bindings. 

A tiny laugh escaped the Omega, then she shook his mother’s hand. “I just did the right thing, no need to thank me.”

“Nonsense,” his fiancé interrupted, then she snapped her fingers, and turned to their butler. “You should be rewarded for your actions. Armitage? Would you hand her a twenty? That should do it.”

Scoffing in offense, Ben watched Armitage pull out the twenty dollar bill from his pocket, and extend his arm out to Rey. Twenty dollars? Was that what his life was worth to her? Twenty dollars to keep him alive? The thought of it was wretched, and so he placed a hand on Armitage’s wrist, and shook his head. “Is that the going rate for saving the man you love? I’d like to think I’m worth a little more than that.”

Bazine gave him a deep, yet small laugh. “You’re unsatisfied, I see,” she said, then she shrugged, cocking her head to the side in acknowledgement of what he’d said. “Fair enough, your point holds ground. Give her the twenty anyway, and let’s invite her to dinner. I’m sure our group would delight in hearing your tale.”

That seemed… a little better. At the very least, it would give him another chance to talk to her. He would get to actually have a few minutes of conversation, maybe get to know her, get to understand this mysterious Omega from the third class who’d risked arrest to save his life. “Would you care to join us for dinner tomorrow night, Rey?” he asked quietly, sensing fear in her eyes from the moment she’d heard the word. 

Nodding slowly, she let out a deep breath, mist fogging the air as she did so as if she were still smoking the cigarette she’d thrown out to sea. “Yes, I’ll join you.” Then she cleared her throat. “Now it none of you mind, it is rather late, I’d like to return to my cabin.”

“Of course,” his mother replied. “Thank you again, for everything.”

“We should be getting in, too,” Bazine added, taking Ben’s arm before she began to turn him away from the ship’s deck and Rey. “Come on, Ben.”

As Rey bowed her head, Ben caught her eye one last time, mouthing a quick, “Thank you,” as they passed by one another. A quiet scoff left her lips as he and his group retreated downstairs, Armitage lingering behind briefly to hand Rey her cash, and he caught a whiff of her scent on the wind. Closing his eyes against it, he found himself slowly but surely intoxicated, put right back under that spell he’d been under as he walked below deck. 

That scent was going to haunt him forever already, he could tell from the way it lingered even after he’d already gone inside, from how he couldn’t stop thinking about the eyes of the person it came from whenever he conjured it to memory. She had some of the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen, pure hazel, with green, gold, and brown dancing in their depths. He wondered what they looked like in the sunlight, if she liked sunlight, if she always had such a calm, casual demeanor or if she was just trying to save his life. 

She’d said her name was Rey. Did she have a last name? 

_ Did she want one?  _ A part of his brain supplied that temporarily forgot he was already engaged to be married. He had to stop thinking about her like that. She was someone he’d only just met, but there was  _ something  _ between them, and she had saved his life, stopped him from slipping into the depths of the sea, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to her. 

Rey was captivating, and as he retreated to the privacy of his bedroom, his thoughts were still entirely consumed by her. 

It was a lucky thing that his family gave him privacy once they returned. All he gave either Bazine or his mother was a warning of, “I think I’ll be sleeping early tonight,” before he made his way to his bedroom, and began to undress for the evening. 

His fingers were trembling as they undid the tie at his throat, but he somehow managed to remove it, then he worked at the buttons of his suit jacket and shirt, stripping off everything until he was completely bare. Only when he was out of his night clothes and in his pajamas did he feel as if he could rest again, though a part of him had a bad feeling he’d be unable to get a wink through the night, and that only solidified as he walked toward his bed, but was interrupted by a knock at the door before he could crawl into it. 

Surprise crossing his features, Ben walked up to the door, shocked to find his fiancé waiting for him on the other side. “I know you wanted to go to bed, but I was wondering if we could talk for a moment?”

Nodding slowly, Ben stepped out into the living space of their stateroom, and let his fiancé lead him over to the sofa, curious as to just what this night had in store for him. 

Especially once he caught sight of the box in her hand, a black one, something that would contain jewelry. Nerves began to develop within his body, and he almost said her name, but then she opened it to reveal a very fancy, very golden pocket watch that shone in the low lighting of their stateroom. “Bazine…”

“I was intending to save this for our wedding,” she told him, then she sighed. “But after tonight, I figured it was necessary. There almost was no wedding.”

That was far from the most important detail, but he certainly wasn’t going to push that. He just wanted this conversation over, he wanted to go to bed, so he listened to her speak, and gave a nod. “It’s lovely.”

“Your mother mentioned how your father used to have one like this that he loved in life. I didn’t know your father, but I figured I could get you one. I know little of what men like in a wedding present, but I…” She shrugged. “I want you to open your heart to me, Ben. Let this show you there isn’t a thing in this world that I would not give you, so long as you would not deny me.”

Ben shuddered again, then he nodded. “I… I need to sleep.”

“But is that a yes?” she asked, and maybe if the hope in her eyes had been a little more genuine, he would’ve given her what she wanted. Looking into her irises, though, he didn’t even believe it was actually something she desired. 

“It’s a maybe,” he replied, then he stood up from the couch. “I apologize, but I’m afraid you’ll have to ask me again later, I am feeling quite ill from exhaustion.”

Giving him another nod, his fiancé gestured toward his bedroom, a sign of approval. Not that he needed it, he was planning to escape anyway. It had become clear several months ago that neither of them was particularly invested in conversation with the other. They were a good match, a good pairing of family names and fortunes. They were no pair of lovers, and he knew they probably never would be. It was part of why he felt so fucking trapped. 

“Of course. Sleep well.” Then she took the box, and got up off the couch to put it in the safe resting on the far side of the room. 

“You too,” he told her, then he disappeared into his bedroom a little too quickly, and shut the door behind himself. Running his hands through his hair, he had the brief thought to turn out the lights, reaching out a hand to flip the switch before he collapsed onto the mattress, passing out before he even had the chance to consider wrapping himself in the sheets. 

**

Down in the third class decks, Rey was sitting out in the hallway with her sketchbook in hand and a determined look on her face. Everyone else had fallen asleep with the passing of the midnight hour, but not her, not yet, and since she hadn’t wanted to keep her cabin mates awake, she decided to draw outside in the halls. 

Inspiration often struck her at the most off of hours, but never quite one such as this. Perhaps it was also because her subject was one who’d come into her life at an equally odd time; one in which her life was shifting, changing, and she had no clear direction for where the hell she would be going next. Ben had come into her life at the most eccentric possible time, changing the very direction of the winds upon which she set her sails. 

And so it made perfect sense that she was sitting outside of her rooms on the floor of the Titanic at one in the morning, drawing the features of a face that just would not leave her alone. She couldn’t stop thinking about those eyes, and how beautifully they’d communicated with her exactly what he’d needed, or those lips, full and plush, like he was begging to be kissed. His hair was just the icing on the proverbial cake, raven waves framing a pale face like he was something out of a fairytale. 

Ben was unreal, but he existed all the same. 

As his likeness slowly appeared on the page, she found herself shaking her head. She was going mad, wasn’t she? Drawing a man she’d only just met, thinking about him like this when they’d just recently become acquaintances? She knew his name, designation, and class, and she knew that he was impossibly, miserably sad. He was miserable beyond all belief, and she wanted desperately to know  _ why.  _

Why hadn’t he believed his life was worth saving? What could possibly have happened to this man that made him think he had no way out?

She had just been invited to dinner, perhaps she could just ask him the next evening. As she drew Ben’s Cupid’s bow, she wondered what it would be like. Would Ben wear one of those fancy suits? Would his hair be slicked back like a gentleman? Would he smell as good as he usually did beneath all the brandy and smoke? 

Her heart was racing and it had been ever since the moment she’d met him. If it was ever going to stop, she had no idea, but she’d probably get the chance to find out the next evening. All there was to do now was wait, and Rey had always been good at waiting. 


	4. A Walk in the Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so fucking sick I felt like passing out the entire time this chapter was in the works but in spite of having only been awake for four hours I did it.
> 
> It may have helped that I used bits from one of my old fandoms where I had written a titanic au there. Sometimes your old writing isn’t garbage and it saves your poor, congested soul.
> 
> Anyway hopefully I’m well enough to get tomorrow’s chapter done, thanks to everyone who’s read so far, I’m going to go take the worst head-ache induced nap I’ve ever taken.

The next day Ben woke up and knew before he’d even gotten out of bed that he couldn’t wait for dinner to speak with Rey. They needed to talk about what had happened the night before, and they would have very little luck in doing so before they were surrounded by his friends and family. He needed to explain to her what had happened last night, why he’d nearly flung himself from the rail and into the inky, black depths of the Atlantic. 

A part of him, though he knew he should shove it down and repress it to high holy hell, also wanted to simply be near her again. He wanted to inhale her scent, let himself be intoxicated by her as they stood together on the deck. 

When he’d first boarded the Titanic, he’d been dreading the journey, considering it the biggest fit of misery his life would ever offer him aside from a loveless marriage. He’d thought he’d spend his days wallowing in self pity, but then he had something to look forward to. 

The mental image of hazel eyes and dark hair filled his mind, and so he resolved that after a lunch with his family, he would go find Rey. 

Pushing himself out of bed, Ben looked out the window, glancing at the promenade deck of the ship and the azure ocean beyond. The sky was its usual pale blue color not a cloud in sight to block the sun that was now shining brightly down on the flat sea. Curious, he grabbed a dressing gown off of a nearby chair, and wrapped it around himself as he walked to the door to the outside, and pushed it open. 

It was cold outside, but he didn’t mind. The bright sunshine was warm against his face, and he found that he didn’t mind it one bit as he closed his eyes, and leaned against the railing. 

For once, he felt alive. The blinding light was beautiful that day, and he found himself in a beautiful sort of reverie, hypnotized in the way he was by the woman who’d saved him last night; who had allowed him the chance to see the daylight. 

She was right, taking her hand, allowing her to pull him up, and save his life, had been the best thing that ever happened to him. 

Now he just had to find her again. 

Waiting until lunch was over, Ben began a brisk walk on the ship’s deck. He’d told his family he was just going to go for a quick stroll before testing out the ship’s gymnasium, but those were things he definitely didn’t do. Sure, what he did started out as a stroll, but it quickly turned into checking his reflection in the windows he passed every five seconds. 

He wasn’t sure why he was fucking _primping_ but there he was, ruffling his feathers like a peacock as he checked every window leading up to the third class entrance to make sure his hair was in place and his bow tie was straight. It was all so unnecessary. He had a fiancé, he didn’t need to be putting all of this effort in to impress her, but maybe this was just instincts, his inner Alpha trying to impress the Omega he was about to meet. 

Whatever it was, he sure as shit couldn’t tell. All he knew was one minute he was primping and the next he was sneaking below deck, descending down the pristine white staircase in the bowels of the ship toward the third class. 

This was insane. The third class was massive, making up the bulk of what he’d heard was more than a thousand passengers. It certainly held more people than his small, but privileged crew. There was a minuscule chance he wouldn’t even be able to find her, but he knew her name now. He could probably just ask. Surely someone down in the third class would know Rey, someone had to. 

Faint music and chatter reached his ears within a minute, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he walked further and further down, until he suddenly arrived upon a small crowd of people dressed in the same ratty sort of clothing he’d seen Rey in the night before. If he was going to find her anywhere, this would be it. 

Looking out over the sea of faces, Ben was at first disappointed, thinking he’d find nothing, but then he saw her laughing with two men, the three of them looking down at some sort of sketchbook as Rey’s face turned beet red. 

Relief flooding through him, he descended the last of the stairs, and made his way toward her. Slowly but surely, eyes began to land on him from all over the room, whispers filling his ears as people took notice of the stranger who didn’t belong. He gave them a few awkward smiles and waves, not wanting to be rude by ignoring people entirely, but not having the sense of comfort to do much else. 

Eventually, he shook his head, and focused solely on Rey, moving his feet in her direction, and excusing himself as he walked past their fellow passengers. A million different scents hit his nose on his way, but as he inhaled deeply, he caught a hint of that sweet one of hers that he’d been dreaming about for days now. _Rey._

This was it. This was his time. Clearing his throat as he approached her, he stopped walking, and watched as she slowly turned around. Or rather, the movement _started_ slow. Once she caught sight of him in her peripheral vision she turned faster than a lightning bolt, standing up in shock as she blinked at him, her eyes going wide. “ _Ben._ ”

“I’m sorry if this is unexpected,” he told her, running a hand nervously through his hair. “I just wanted to ask if I could speak with you for a moment.”

She didn’t move except to give him a nod. “Okay.”

“Alone.”

“That’s fine with me. Lead the way.”

Surprised, he turned around, but kept his eyes loosely on her as he began to walk back toward the stairs. She hurriedly grabbed her sketchbook, then she followed him, and together they walked up to the sunlit deck for a conversation that was slightly overdue. 

**

They remained silent as they emerged onto the boat deck, the cool air blowing Ben’s hair back—and his scent right into her face—as he held the door open for Rey, who, though rather shocked, thanked him quietly before they began a brisk stroll about the deck moving parallel to the starboard side railing. 

“Are you… er… Are you enjoying third class?” Ben asked after the silence became far too unbearable, though somehow he felt like the small talk was worse. 

Rey scratched her head beside him, tucking her sketchbook beneath her armpit as she tried not to think about how good he smelled. “It’s good, yeah,” she replied plainly, “How are things in… in first?”

“Good, yes, good.”

“Wonderful.”

The conversation fell into a palpable silence, growing more awkward by the moment. Ben sighed, and stopped their walk abruptly, “Listen, Rey… I don’t know what I’m doing, but I knew I had to talk to you. It took me most of this morning to work up the nerve to face you.”

Rey scoffed lightheartedly, “I didn’t think I was that intimidating.”

“Given what you nearly saw me do last night, anyone would be intimidating right about now,” Ben admitted, then he sighed. “But that’s not the point. I wanted to thank you for what you did… For pulling me back, and your discretion.”

Rey’s eyes held a solemn gaze with his as she looked into them. “I’d do it again,” she said, meaning every single word.

Ben’s cheeks still flushed with embarrassment, and she wished she could take that away, that he could feel proud and defiant, like a true Alpha. “You must be wondering why I did it.”

“Admittedly, yes.”

“I know what you must be thinking. ‘Poor, rich little Alpha, what does he know of misery?’”

Rey shook her head, looking at him with curiosity in her gaze as she told him the honest truth. “I was only wondering what could’ve possibly happened to you to make you think you had no other way out.”

She watched as Ben looked around the ship, watching the people of his social class move about the deck. They had the world handed to them on a silver platter. Everything just came to them without them having to ask. All they had to do was be born to earn what they had, and while Rey was happy with her existence, she did sometimes have those feelings of wishing that she’d gotten so lucky as to be one of them. 

“It was them,” he confessed, gesturing to the people walking about the ship. “Them and their whole world… And it feels like I’m trapped in it, Rey, like an insect in amber. And last night, I realized how miserable it made me, and I had to get away, so I ran. Next thing I knew I was at the stern of the ship, and there was nowhere else to run but the Atlantic, so I climbed over the rail. 

“I was so angry, I was… I was furious… I thought I’d show them, that they’d be sorry, but… It would’ve been rather pointless, wouldn’t it?”

“You would’ve been dead, Ben,” Rey reminded him, resting a hand on his arm as she spoke, causing Ben to laugh, and look down at the ground. 

“I was a fool,” he said, shuffling his feet awkwardly, looking surprisingly unconfident and put down for an Alpha. 

“So the people last night, were they…?”

“The people I wanted to escape? Yes.”

“So, who’s who?” Rey asked.

“The older woman? My mother, she’s the one that’s put me here in the first place.”

“How so?”

“She arranged a marriage between myself and the woman, Bazine. She’s a lovely person, but…”

“You don’t love her,” Rey said bluntly, and they stopped their walk again as they passed a row of deck chairs. 

Ben froze in place at hearing this, a bold declaration from an Omega whose head he could see over. He should’ve been dominating her, she knew. He should've been the one in charge, but she was. Maybe for the moment, she needed to be, and designation wasn’t as much of a guideline as she’d been taught. The sound of the wind roared in their ears for a moment, despite the breeze being fairly light, “Pardon me?”

“Wasn’t that what you were going to say?” Rey asked. “That you aren’t in love with her?” He laughed lightly, and yet his smile didn’t reach his eyes, it barely even left the corners of his mouth. Through Ben’s eyelashes she could see vivid gold highlighting dark brown like the sunlight around them, his gaze far too piercing and intense for his as it bore into her, staring almost into her soul, reminding her that there was still an Alpha behind them. “Forgive me, but I could see it in your eyes. You care for her, but you don’t love her. You don’t want to marry her. If you could get out of it, you would, but I know a bit about how your world works… You can’t get out of it, and that’s why you ran last night.”

An awkward laugh escaped Ben’s lips as he stared at Rey in bewilderment. “You can’t say stuff like that, it’s absurd, _you’re_ absurd.”

“Can’t say what? The truth?” Rey asked, stepping in front of Ben, directly into his personal space. There was nothing between them but the soft wind blowing in from the ocean now, the chill in the air causing goosebumps to rise on her arms beneath her coat as she breathed in his scent. _Fuck,_ he smelled good. He was almost too much to resist, and she became again aware that she’d be starting her next heat shortly after the Titanic docked. She was close already, and standing next to an Alpha this potent was _dangerous._ “We-we should probably not stand so close to one another.” 

Ben nodded. “I fully agree,” he replied, sounding a little breathless, then he looked for something, _anything_ , he could use to change the subject. His eyes settled on the black journal that Rey had been carrying around with her the entire time they’d been talking, and quickly reached for it, snatching it from the Omega’s hands before she could say a damn thing in protest, “What have we here?”

“Don’t,” Rey warned, reaching for the book, but Ben now had it far out of her reach, keeping it up above his head, “ _Ben._ ”

“Oh, come on, can’t I take a peak?” he asked, finally sounding a bit more Alpha-like, walking over to a deck chair, and sitting on it as he began to flip through the pages of the book, observing her art. Not just any sketches, either, but all of the drawings were true to life drawings. They were absolutely beautiful renditions of people, places, animals, and other things that looked like they were almost photographs of their subjects. 

“Rey, these are rather good,” he told her, flipping past a drawing of an old man smoking a cigar, the regretful expression on his aged face captured perfectly by Rey’s hand. “They’re very good, they’re… beautiful even.”

The Omega shrugged. “No one thought too much of them in Europe,” she explained. 

“Were you hoping to sell these? Is that why?”

“No, I was… just drawing for fun.”

“Did you ever consider it?” Ben asked, no longer looking at the drawings, but at Rey now, causing her heart to beat at a rapid fire pace in her ears. 

She nodded. “I did,” she said, then their eyes met once again, Rey’s features resolved into a serious, but soft expression, relaxed even as the sun bore down onto them, nearly blinding the two as they sat on the deck. 

Ben laughed, then flipped to the image of Finn and Poe leaning against a railing, the ocean behind them gray instead of blue, but the impact of it was the same. “Do you know any of these people?” he asked. 

“Some, yes,” Rey replied. “But most of them are complete strangers, and I never speak a word to any of them.”

He then smiled at Rey, and gave her a nod as he closed the book, and handed it back to her. “Come on,” he said, getting up off the chair, “There’s more I wanted to talk to you about.”

Rey returned his smile, then she too stood up, and they resumed their stroll along the deck. As the time passed, they talked about a number of things. Ben told her his life’s story, which Rey seemed much more interested in than her own. When they talked about Rey’s life growing up, the story that came off with a multitude of half-truths and subbed in names. She decided he could believe it was slightly better than it was for the sake of her own comfort. . 

“You know, it wouldn’t be so terrible to live your life,” Ben told her as they leaned against the railing, watching the sun begin to set off the starboard side of the ship. 

Rey quirked an eyebrow at him, “What makes you say that?”

“You’re free, Rey, you can do whatever you want whenever you want to. I’m trapped.”

Beside him, Rey chuckled, looking out at the sea as the sun set ahead of them. “You wouldn’t last a day.”

“How would you know?”

“Well, for starters, there’s no hot water, and there’s definitely no fancy food like caviar or something…”

“Good thing I hate caviar then.”

“Ben, it’s harder than it looks, I’m lucky, I know how to handle myself out there, I’ve been doing it for longer than you can imagine, and it’s not… It’s not easy. Especially for a woman and an Omega. We have it… difficult to say the least.”

A particularly cold gust of wind hit them then, and Ben shivered slightly. “I know it’s easier to be like me, but… Rey I can’t help but feel like I was destined for something better than this. I’m supposed to be something more than just some rich man. I can feel it.”

“I think you were meant for better things, too.”

“What makes you say that? Is it just so you can make me feel better?”

Rey shook her head, “No, no, because if you weren’t you wouldn’t want them so badly,” she explained. “You wouldn’t want to even entertain the idea of living a life like mine if you didn’t believe that you were more than just an heir.”

Ben gave her a laugh, but before he could say anything else, a bugler sounded out the mealtime call, and he sighed, a very relatable disappointment tainting his features. “Well, it seems we must part for now,” he said, handing Rey’s charcoal and sketchbook back to her. “Thank you for your time, I had a wonderful afternoon.”

“As did I,” Rey replied, “I suppose I’ll see you at dinner, then.”

“You will.” He then turned to leave, but before he took even one step, a thought occurred to him, and he turned back to Rey, “Have you got anything to wear?”

Rey looked down at her clothes and shrugged. “I was just going to come as I am. I hadn’t really thought about it to be perfectly honest.”

Ben almost smirked. “That’s what I thought,” he said, then he took Rey by the arm, and started to lead her toward the entrance to the first class decks, much to the Omega’s surprise, “You’re about to head into a snake pit, and if you go in there looking the way you do now, you will be eaten alive.”

“Your world sounds like so much fun.”

“The person I’m taking you to will make it seem like it.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not an expert in what women are wearing, but someone on this ship is.”

“Who?” she asked, suddenly feeling almost fearful as she was led below deck. 

Grinning, Ben pulled her into a first class hallway. “You’ll see.”

  
  
  



	5. Nerves and Dresses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so short but I’m also still quite sick so 🙌

Knocking on the door just threw down from his, Ben was almost bouncing on his feet. It was funny, he thought, how he could go from feeling at his lowest low to to sing his highest high. At this time the day before, he’d been numb, contemplating ending his life. He had been at his most miserable, had hit the bottom of the metaphorical pit that was his life. 

Looking at Rey once he finished knocking, he found himself unable to hold back a smile. At least, he smiled for a few seconds. That quickly stopped when he noticed Rey looking absolutely terrified. “Are you all right?”

She shrugged, laughing quietly as they both heard footsteps coming from inside the stateroom. “I’m fine, just… nervous.”

Feeling somewhat bold, Ben rested a hand on her shoulder, trying not to think about how warm she felt beneath his skin. “Don’t be. Amilyn’s possibly the best person in the first class. She’s not like the others.”

“I’m not sure if that’s comforting.”

“You’ll see,” he promised her, then the door opened, the scent of another Alpha filling their nostrils as the face of Amilyn Holdo was revealed, already covered in a smile. “Rey, this is Amilyn, and Amylin, this is Rey.”

The woman standing on the other side of the door looked her up and down, then she looked at him. “Nice to see you both, and to meet you,” she said, then confusion began to develop on her face. “But what is this?” 

“I’m sure my mother has told you that last night this woman saved my life.” Ben swallowed his nerves, then he released his grip on her shoulder. “My family has invited her to dinner, but Rey holds a third class ticket. Anyone with eyes will see where she’s from and our lot aren’t exactly the kindest.”

The woman in front of them nodded slowly. “I see.”

“Rey needs something to wear, and I can’t exactly help her. I was wondering if you could help us,” he said, then he looked at the Omega, able to tell from just looking at her that she was more nervous than he was. “Please.”

Amilyn looked her up and down, taking in every facet of Rey’s appearance as she hummed quietly to herself. Both of them held their breath, unsure of whether she’d say yes or not. A tense minute passed like that, in which they didn’t know whether or not she’d say yes, but then she smiled again, and the relief coursing through his veins was  _ instant.  _

“Send her in,” she said, stepping back as she opened the door a little wider. 

Gesturing for her to go ahead, he watched as Rey entered Amilyn’s stateroom, then he moved to follow in her footsteps, but he was stopped when she put a hand up. “What?”

“She’s going to need a little privacy for this,” Amilyn informed him. “Go get ready for dinner, I’ll find you when she’s ready.”

Wanting to protest, Ben’s mouth opened and closed a few times as if he was a grouper fish, then he caught sight of Rey’s lips moving, mouthing to him that it was going to be okay. A sigh escaped him as he stepped back, then he bowed his head before looking at Rey again. “I’ll see you soon?”

“You will,” she promised him, then Amilyn closed the door, and he finally seemed to remember how to breathe. 

Voices sounded from inside the room, and a part of him wanted to stick around and listen, but a larger part of him knew that Amilyn was right. This whole evening would probably be terrifying enough for his new friend, she didn’t need him imposing on her personal space. Sure, he felt a need, a  _ drive  _ to be close to her, borne of a natural inclination for Alphas to protect Omegas, but there were also moments where people needed to be left alone, and he knew he could trust Amilyn to make sure she felt safe. 

Breathing in deeply, Ben made his way back to his stateroom, and got himself ready for dinner. There wasn’t much he had to do. He just needed to be sure his hair wasn’t in disarray and his clothes were in order. He could hear his mother and Bazine getting ready in the distance, and as he put on his suit jacket, he realized he was likely going to have to accompany them to dinner. Ordinarily this would be fine, but after meeting Rey and finding himself more comfortable around her than anyone else, he didn’t particularly care for it. 

When the time came for him to leave his room and head to dinner, his mother and fiancé of course asked him to accompany them to dinner, but much to all of their surprise, his answer was a quiet, “No.”

Bazine just blinked at him. “No?”

“I promised Rey I’d escort her to dinner,” he replied, then he adjusted the end of his sleeve. “I owe her for saving my life, remember?”

His fiancé grumbled something in response, sounding mocking in her tone.  _ That was concerning.  _ This was the woman who’d saved his life, surely that warranted some sort of respect? 

“That’s fine, I suppose,” Bazine told him, then she looked to Leia. “I don’t suppose you would mind escorting me then?”

Looking between her son and future daughter-in-law, his mother gave her a nod, then offered Bazine her arm, and prepared to lead her from the stateroom. “I suppose we’ll see you at dinner?” she asked, resting a hand on her son’s arm. 

“Of course. I’ll escort you to dinner tomorrow evening, I promise,” he said, then Bazine gave him another discontented hum, and then she and his mother disappeared, leaving him alone in the stateroom with his thoughts. 

Once alone, Ben ran a hand through his hair, feeling inexplicably hot and a little nervous as he waited for Amilyn to knock on his door, his whole body tense like he was a spring waiting to burst free. Why the hell was he so scared? Rey was good and kind, she didn’t judge him in spite of seeing him at his absolute worst. By all logic, he should’ve been as calm as ever. 

But he was afraid. 

The knock came to the door just a few seconds later, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin as he looked toward it. The terror built up inside of him again, but then he closed his eyes, taking another deep, slow breath before he walked over to the door, and opened it. 

His breath left him in a rush, his lungs deflating rapidly as he took sight of the woman in front of him. Rey had been transformed in not even an hour, and she’d always looked beautiful, but now she shone in a deep emerald dress, black lace sparkling over the silk fabric as she picked at it with white-gloved hands. Her hair had been pulled back into an elegant updo, held in place by an odd sort of diamond studded accessory that still somehow didn’t manage to outshine her eyes. 

“Rey…” 

“A-Amilyn told me to let you know she went ahead to dinner.” She was nervous, it showed in her face, but he didn’t care, his breath had been stolen from his lungs and his brain void of all thoughts. “Go ahead, laugh, I feel ridiculous,” she told him, picking at the end of one of her gloves as she spoke. “Do all first class women wear their corsets this tight or is your friend just wicked?” 

Shock filling him that she could ever find herself to look ridiculous in that gown, Ben shook his head rapidly. “No, you—you look beautiful.” His eyes did another sweep of her new appearance, finding that it was scary how much Rey looked like a member of his world. “You’ll fit right in.”

A flush coloring her cheeks, Rey looked to the ground, her scent filling his nose as he watched a sheen of sweat start to develop on her face. “You’re just being nice to me.”

Ben shook his head, offering her his arm with one hand as he reached up to lift her chin with the other. “You look fine, I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you,” he whispered, watching her lower lip tremble as she looked down to his hand, her eyes then darting up to a point that was low on his face before they met his eyes. 

“Ben…” 

Suddenly the tension was alive in the room, like he could cut it with a knife, and fear coursed through his veins. It was the same fear from a few minutes ago, when he had been pacing anxiously before she arrived, but this time it planted a new seed in his mind. He was sensing the beginning of a thought, of a plan, but its impact was so severe that he could see it coming from a mile away. Something was in the air, and it was more than just a scent or a feeling; it transcended them both. 

“We-we should go,” he said abruptly, letting his hand fall from her chin before he gestured to his arm. “We can’t be late for dinner.”

“Right, yes, dinner,” Rey replied, laughing awkwardly as she took his arm, then she allowed him to lead her out into the hallway, her eyes downcast the entire time as he shut the door to his rooms, and guided her toward the grand staircase. 

Looking at her, he could tell she was still nervous, and as they finally made their way into the well lit staircase, he put a hand over hers, squeezing it as he guided her down the first part of the stairwell toward the landing, both of them walking a little more slowly. “Just follow my lead, act like you’re made of money, and they’ll love you,” he said, then as they reached the bottom of that part of the stairs, he continued to hold her hand, wanting her to feel grounded, but also wanting to protect her from anyone who might do her harm. “But don’t be afraid to put them in their place.”

The Omega at his side gave him a faint smile. “I won’t be,” she replied, then she laughed as they walked out on the landing. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I’ve never been like this, but suddenly—“

“No, I was nervous going downstairs, too.”

Rey laughed at him. “Yes, but people looked up to you when you came to my world. They were awestruck, inspired, maybe a little jealous because you’re everything we want to be.” 

Looking into her eyes, he found himself lost in a world of curiosity and wonder, awe and disbelief in her gaze as she stared up at him with irises that glistened a multitude of colors in the warm lighting of the chandeliers. “Forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn, but you don’t seem like the type to care about money.”

“I don’t. I… I get around through other means, mostly, but that doesn’t mean I don’t dream sometimes about another life. One where I don’t have to fight to get scraps at the table.” She leaned against him a little as they looked down the stairs, where the Titanic’s first class were all decked out in their finest silks and diamonds, looking richer than anyone had the right to. “I really do love my life, but sometimes we all have moments where we want things to be simple.”

Giving her another warm smile, he fought the sudden urge to press a kiss to the Omega’s forehead, her sweet scent catching his attention with every breath as he looked at her, slowly starting to wonder if there was another human being he’d ever connected with more in his life. “I think I can relate to that, but perhaps not too simple. That would be a dull life indeed.”

“I agree,” she told him, then she straightened up a little. “Well then, Mr. Solo, I think we’ve waited at the top of this staircase long enough. Would you care to accompany a lady to dinner?”

“I would be delighted to,” he said, then together, they began to descend the staircase, heading down and down and down, until they were amongst the crowd, and they both put on the masks of people who were far braver than they actually were. 


	6. Two Kinds of Parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is aggressively rushed but we decided to see a movie at the last minute so it had to be 🙌

The first class dining area was the most extravagant thing Rey had ever lain her eyes upon. Everywhere was lit by pretty glass chandeliers or candlelight that served to bathe everyone in a fine glow, and she found herself utterly mesmerized by it. 

Not only that, but every person she passed gave her an approving nod and a smile, often times before looking at Ben, making her realize that by arriving here with him, she’d earned their respect. They believed she was made of money, that she was like them, and it was as he’d said; she fit right in. For all anyone aside from herself and Ben knew, she was an heiress, her father owned an oil company, and she’d never had to dig for scraps a day in her life. 

“It’s incredible,” she breathed, inhaling deeply, taking in the scent of how new it all was. Before them, the people currently on board the ship, no one had ever set foot in this place. They were amongst the first. She was amongst the gods of the universe, or at least, she felt like it. 

Ben chuckled beside her. “It’s better now that I actually have company I enjoy,” he told her. “I don’t suppose I could invite you to dinner with us again tomorrow night?”

Snorting her laughter, Rey placed her fingers gingerly over her painted lips, not wishing to smudge the red pigment before she’d even had a bite to eat. “Ben, I couldn’t possibly. That would be overstaying my welcome.” She picked up the edge of her dress as they made their way to a table, where two women she was already recognizing as Ben’s mother and fiancé were greeting people. Before anxiety could set in about them, though, she caught sight of Amilyn, who bowed her head to her with a smile before turning her attention on one of the people she was speaking to. “I take it this is our table for the evening?”

He nodded. “It is.” Then he let go of her hand, but made sure hers was still holding his arm at his side. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Good, they can smell fear.” His voice was dry as he said this, making Rey hesitate as they made their final approach toward the table. “I’m just joking.”

“Oh.”

“Relax, Rey, you’ll be fine,” he told her. “Most of the people at this table are either Betas or Omegas like yourself. The only other Alphas are my mother and Amilyn. They’re good people. No one’s going to try to assert power over you to try and make you feel uncomfortable.”

Shaking her head, Rey sighed. “There are other ways besides designation to make someone feel uncomfortable,” she reminded him. 

His brow furrowed, and in a moment of naïveté, he asked, “Like what?”

*

Her point was proven half an hour into the dinner. They’d all been sitting around the table for a while now, laughing over old stories Amilyn was telling about her husband, but of course, in spite of all the laughter, there had been an undercurrent of discomfort. Ever since Rey had sat down next to Ben at the table, his fiancé had been staring her down off and on, and though the woman—according to scent, at least—was a beta, she made her feel significantly inferior, like she was less somehow. 

She wasn’t sure what she’d done to this woman other than save her fiancé’s life, but she wished she could somehow tell her she wasn’t a threat. She wasn’t going to bring her harm, though, the more Bazine’s eyes wandered between herself and Ben, she started to think the woman was afraid of a different sort of threat. 

_ Oh.  _

“So tell me about the accommodations in steerage, Rey, I hear they’re quite nice on this ship,” Bazine said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts just as she’d begun to stare at Ben again. 

Blinking herself into awareness, she barked a terse laugh, then giving her the kindest—but most secretly ingenuine—smile she could muster, she nodded. “They’re the best I’ve ever seen, miss. Hardly any rats.”

This earned a chuckle from around the table, then Ben’s mother cocked her head to the side ever so slightly, gazing at the woman who’d saved her son’s life curiously. “Where is it you come from, Rey?”

“Southampton, but I wouldn’t say it’s my home,” she replied honestly. “Home is everywhere at the moment. The whole of planet earth itself.”

Bazine hummed a response, though it was difficult to tell whether it was in contempt or in approval. “So you have no home then?” 

So it was contempt, then. “At the moment my home is the Titanic,” she admitted, picking up her wine glass, and sipping from it. “I make my way around through luck. I earned my ticket here through an incredibly lucky hand of poker. It’s amazing how much Alphas will underestimate an Omega. Especially if she’s a woman.”

A chuckle sounded from around the table, but once again, Bazine was frowning. “But how do you get about as an Omega? Just… forgive me for intruding, but Alphas—men in particular—aren't always easy to deal with.”

“Well, it’s a lucky thing, Bazine that I am more stubborn than they are determined. Alphas have too much pride for their own good. They think their designation guarantees them victory in all things. Including poker,” she said, then her lips curled into a smile as she sipped her wine again. “One thing I think the world would be wise to learn is to never underestimate an Omega.”

“I hear that,” Amilyn said, then she leaned forward, and raised her glass in the air. “To never underestimating the underdogs.”

The rest of the table repeated the motion and the toast, several glasses, including Ben’s and his mother’s, joining Amilyn’s in the air before they all raised their glasses to their lips. Bazine’s was notably absent. Apparently in spite of all of her efforts, she’d failed to impress the other woman. Disappointing, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Some people saw social class as the end all be all for determining who they saw as human and who they saw as scum. 

Ben’s fiancé was one of those people, and suddenly she was starting to put the pieces together for why he was so miserable. 

Eventually, the dinner party began to wind down, and Rey could tell her time with them was coming to an end. Before all of this had started, while she was getting ready with Amilyn, she’d written a note on a spare piece of paper she’d borrowed, one with a bold request she wasn’t sure she’d be able to make. Looking at him now though, as things were beginning to wind down, she knew she had no other choice. 

When else would she be able to see him again? When would she next glimpse that smile, that light in his eyes?

He was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and she couldn’t pass up the chance to steal a little more time with him. He was worth everything. 

Without hesitating, she retrieved the note from her glove, and held it right in her palm, anticipating the moment in which she’d finally be able to give it to him. 

When the gentlemen of the table began to rise, making their escapes from the women, Rey rose as well, but she was stopped when a hand reached out, and grabbed her wrist. Shock filling her, she met Ben’s eyes, finding a hint of sadness within them as he looked up at her. “Rey, must you go?”

She gave him a sad smile. “I’m afraid it’s time for me to return below deck with the rest of the third class,” she said, then she offered her hand. “Don’t worry, you might just see me again if you’re lucky.”

He laughed as he took it, pausing for half a second when he felt the paper in her hand, but he then recovered quickly. “I thought of the two of us, you were the lucky one,” he said, then he brought her fingers to his lips, making them both shiver briefly as their eyes locked, neither of them blinking the entire time. 

As he let go of her hand, she felt him take the paper, take her note, and a broad smile parted her lips. “Or maybe we both are,” she said, then she took in a deep breath, and forced herself to walk away, eagerly anticipating the moment he could get away from his crowd, and meet her by the clock. 

She had to show him a real party. 

**

_ Take a chance. Meet me at the clock, I’ll be waiting.  _

_ —Rey  _

That was what her note had said. That had been the thing which had beckoned him to change his plans for the evening from joining the gentlemen for drinks and brandy to  _ this.  _

It was insane. This was absolutely mad, the pinnacle of madness, actually. He should have been going to brandy and cigars with the other gentlemen of first class, but instead he was standing at the base of the grand staircase, staring up at the back of the Omega he’d befriended as he tried to catch his breathing and convince himself that he could do this. 

Rey still looked beautiful, a vision of some sort of goddess, like something out of a painting, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to her. Beyond her beauty, though, he was uncontrollably drawn to the soul of this woman, to every part of her. That spell he’d been under on his first day on board this ship came to mind, and he wondered if maybe, just maybe, it would be more of a mistake to  _ return _ to his stateroom right then. 

Slowly, he began to climb up the stairs, and maybe she heard his footsteps or maybe she felt that same pull—though he would bet she’d caught his scent in the air—but she turned around to see him as he walked up the stairs, relief crossing her features as she reached out to him once again. “You want to go to a real party?” she asked him. 

He blinked a couple of times, confused by what she meant. Hadn’t they just been to a real party? “What?”

“That back there? That was dinner and a conversation, and it was lovely, but…” She walked down a few steps, closing the gap between them as she suddenly stood mere inches away, her hand on the railing as if she was stabilizing herself as she watched him. “Your lot don’t know how to have fun.”

Raising an amused eyebrow, he laughed. “We don’t?”

Shaking her head, she only grinned wider. “No. So let me show you what you’re missing. Proof that holding a first class ticket isn’t all you need to be happy.”

Not hesitating another moment, he reached forward and took her hand. Again he was shaken by how warm it was in his, his breath catching as he took hold of it, nodded, and allowed this woman to change his life all over again. 

*

The third class indeed knew how to party infinitely better than the first. Irish music blasted at a volume that was nearly deafening from a makeshift band that didn’t seem to be playing any particular song, but rather following a rhythm that everyone in the room got lost in. Smiles and beer flowed freely, and somehow, though he hadn’t drank in years, he found himself able to hold through a chugging contest with Rey, both of them giggling like teenagers when it was over. 

Ben couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled so much in so short a time. His whole body felt alive, drunk on both alcohol and Rey as they both grabbed a second beer, then they looked out at the dance floor, where two lively Omega men were showing off their best dance as they spun about in the center of it all. 

“Well, they sure look like they’re having a good time,” Ben mused, then he took another sip of his beer as Rey laughed. 

“That’s Finn and Poe, they’re friends of mine,” she said, then she laughed. “We’ve only just met but I feel like I’ve known them for years.”

Quirking an eyebrow, Ben took another sip of his drink, an amused expression blossoming on his face. “You seem to have that effect on a lot of people. Knowing them for only a few days but making them feel as if you’ve known them for ages.”

“You sound jealous, Alpha,” she told him, eyes wild with mischief as she looked into his. 

His head swimming with alcohol and the buzz that came from simply being in her presence, Ben giggled helplessly. “I do, don’t I?”

She rested a hand on his shoulder. “Not to worry, Ben, they sometimes only have eyes for each other,” she said, then as if realizing she said something she shouldn’t have said, she cleared her throat, then offered him her hand. “Would you like to dance?”

Ben nearly spat out his drink in surprise, then he looked out to the dance floor, where a few other young couples had joined Finn and Poe in their merry dance, and all of them were somehow managing to match the chaotic rhythm of the music. This wasn’t a dance he knew. He had been trained in the waltz and other forms of classical dance, but this? This was so far beyond anything he knew, he was completely fucking  _ lost.  _

“I don’t know the steps!” he protested, then she gave him another laugh as she set down her beer, and held out her hand. 

“I don’t either, just come with me,” she said, then he looked at that outstretched hand, and it was as if a series of wires began to connect in his brain, making him realize that this was right, this was what he was meant to do, and so he took her hand, allowing her to lead him out onto the dance floor, and into a whirlwind of pure adrenaline and bliss. 

  
  
  



	7. Written in the Stars

The party went by in a wild haze of body heat and beer, and though this was how Rey had spent most every other night on board the Titanic thus far, she eventually began to grow tired. Looking at Ben, who’d spent most of his nights sitting on his ass under fancy chandeliers and drinking champagne more valuable than anything she’d ever owned in her life, she could tell he was faring no better, and eventually, drunk on beer and each other’s company, she led him back above deck to get some air. 

They didn’t say much as they climbed up the staircase. Most of the time was actually spent giggling, but she couldn’t help noticing that the entire time they climbed up, Ben never once let go of her hand, holding it steady through the entire ascent. 

For a moment, she wondered if she’d ever know what it felt like to live without that hand in hers, if she’d ever have a chance to claim it as a part of her. His hand was so much larger than hers, and yet they seemed to fit together like two pieces to a very uncommon puzzle. 

It was almost unsettling how quickly she was finding herself perfectly comfortable with him. All her life, as a woman and an Omega, Rey had been struggling to protect herself from Alphas, let alone Alpha men, and yet this one had fallen into her life, and suddenly she found herself wanting to keep him in it. She liked Ben, probably a lot more than she should’ve, and that was absolutely frightening. 

“We should probably go to the first class part of the ship,” Ben told her as they broke out onto the deck, then he began to guide her away from the stern. “We look the part anyway.”

“Mmm, yes, if a bit disheveled,” she replied, then they both laughed as he opened the gate separating the first class part of the deck from the rest of the ship, stepping down before he led her along behind him. 

There was a pause when she joined him on the first class deck, their eyes meeting as they paused, seizing a moment to just take each other in. The rest of the deck was barren, void of life, and since there was no one else in sight—at least on the starboard side—they were completely alone in a way they hadn’t been since the moment they met. 

Her heart began to race as she realized this, taking notice of the way his gaze swept over her. He was curious, eager, hungry, like a true Alpha, but also carried the shy inexperience of one who had never known the touch of another person. It would’ve been almost frightening if she weren’t looking at him the exact same way, like she wanted him, too, even if she knew she shouldn’t. He was engaged, for fuck’s sake, and even if he didn’t love her, that didn’t make it right—

A breeze blew past them then, allowing her to catch his scent in the air, and standing this close to him, it was so strong she was almost suffocating on it. Ben was intoxicating like this, and she closed her eyes as she leaned in a little closer to him, still gripping his hand like it was a lifeline as she leaned in close to his neck, inhaling deeply. “Incredible,” she breathed, unable to say much else as his breath caught in his throat, and she looked up to see his head tilting back ever so slightly, like he was inviting her in. 

_ Fuck,  _ she couldn’t do this to him. They had to slow down, they had to stop, they had to fight what their biology was telling them, but this didn’t feel like it was just biology. It felt like even if they were two betas with no pull to other people whatsoever, she would still want him this badly. 

But he was the forbidden fruit in the garden of eden, he was the thing she couldn’t have. Or maybe she was the serpent and the fruit and he was Eve, unable to resist temptation from the way he reacted to her. 

“We-we should probably walk,” she whispered, then she watched as he slowly nodded, and she took his arm, allowing him to lead her in a stroll down the ship’s seemingly endless deck. 

Ben sighed as they walked along, staring out into the black expanse ahead of them, then she felt his hand rest over hers again, right where he’d put it earlier. It was almost as if it felt at home there, like he was most comfortable with one of his hands holding hers. “I can’t believe there’s no one else out here.” He turned his gaze to the stars, his eyes darting from place to place like he was trying to take in every single one of the tiny dots up above. “What a waste of a perfect night, don’t you think?”

She gave him a tiny laugh, then as they began to approach the bow, she sighed. “Perhaps, but I’d also like to think… we’re the only ones witnessing it. This night?” Gesturing around them with her free hand, Rey beamed at him. “Just for us. We’re the only two people on the entire ship who are seeing this right now.”

“Well, maybe the lookouts are seeing it, too.” Ben pointed up with one finger, her eyes following its direction until they landed high above them on the crow’s best of the ship, where she could distantly hear the two officers in charge of looking out for icebergs chattering amongst themselves. “But I think they’re probably more concerned with ice.”

Another laugh escaped her as they came to a stop near the bow, leaning against the railing as they continued looking up at the haze of stars that made up the galaxy. It was absolutely breathtaking; so beautiful that she felt as if she could get lost in it, as if the sun would never rise and the rest of eternity would be just them and the stars. This was one of those moments that was fleeting, and yet it would live forever in her memory. She could close her eyes and come right back here if she wanted to, and one day, she very desperately wanted to. 

The night was, however, very cold, and she was wearing a gown with fairly short sleeves. Once they stopped moving, she found herself resisting the urge to shiver as she stood next to Ben, and began to seek out other ways to feel warmth.  _ He is warm,  _ her mind helpfully supplied, and she wanted to fight off that thought, but he was  _ right _ there and he was giving off so much heat that she couldn’t resist it—she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder as slowly and hesitantly as she could, then she held her breath as he stiffened, both unsure how to respond. 

He finally moved a few seconds later, his entire body relaxing as he rested his head on top of hers, and her eyes closed once more, stars still blurring behind her eyelids as she felt his hand squeeze hers. This was heaven, she thought, it was pure joy, and she knew it could never be, but for just a few minutes she allowed herself to think, to dream of a world where it could. Somewhere out there existed two people who were able to be together like this, except their private moment wasn’t something forbidden that they had to tuck away, or something that they couldn’t address verbally for fear of making it real but it was sweet, gentle, and openly loving. 

“When I was a child, my dad used to teach me the constellations,” he told her suddenly, and her eyes opened to reveal the stars all over again, watching them glisten and shine above her as she caught sight of the various shapes within them. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, he used to take me out with a telescope to the hills behind our home—we lived in the mountains in New York—and I would sit in his lap, and he’d tell me all these stories.” Suddenly Ben pulled back from her, then before she could miss his body heat, she felt him behind her, one of his hands wrapping around one of hers as he took it, and pointed both of their hands at the sky, their pointer fingers aimed at the brilliant lights. “Ancient myths and legends we used to perceive as truth because they were written in the stars. Maybe we don’t see them as true anymore, but they still wield some sort of magic, I think.”

Rey shivered as she felt him lean in to whisper that last part in her ear before he inhaled deeply, undoubtedly taking in her scent the same way she’d been taking in his. “What were these stories?”

At first, he didn’t answer her, then he pointed up nearly above their heads, and she felt him smile against her ear. “That one right above us? That’s Pegasus, the winged horse. You ever hear the stories about him?”

“A little. Didn’t he have something to do with—?”

Ben moved her hand again, their fingers tracing the outline of another constellation as her heart began to pound against her chest. “Perseus,” he told her, showing her in the stars the outline of a man, standing tall and proud amongst the glittering sea. “The son of Zeus—one of them, at least. He saved Andromeda on his way home from slaying Medusa, and afterward…” There was a pause, then she felt him falter, his breath catching briefly in his throat as it escaped him, then he sighed. “He married her.”

“A classic hero story,” she whispered, then she leaned back against Ben, chasing the warmth of the Alpha she was struggling not to lay a mental claim to. “I wish I’d had a father like that.”

It was then that Ben’s almost wistful time grew somber, and he briefly held her hand just a little more tightly. “I wish I’d been kinder to him while he was still alive.”

“Oh,” she breathed, turning around as he lowered their arms in the space between them. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago. Hunting accident.” Swallowing back what must’ve been a lump in his throat, he made a sound that almost resembled a laugh. “I like to think he knew I loved him when he died, but I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye, so I’ll never know.”

He looked as if he were going to shed a year at any moment, and wanting to prevent him from being overwhelmed by sorrow, Rey rested a gloved hand on his cheek, the touch causing both of them to gasp from shock as they locked eyes. The outside air on the deck was freezing cold, but as the two of them stared at each other beneath the starlight, she suddenly felt as though she’d found the outer reaches of hell her blood was boiling so hot. 

An ache developed between her legs, reminding her of her impending heat, and she wondered if being this close to Ben and his potent Alpha scent might set her off days early. Would she survive dealing with her heat in this ship? Would she be able to deal with it without him? 

She didn’t want to know, and she had to back out of this somehow, but she wasn’t sure what to do. In spite of biology telling her otherwise, there had scarcely been anyone else she’d ever been attracted to, and there had been no one she wanted the way she wanted him. Of course the minute she decided she finally wanted an Alpha in her life, she settled on the one who was least available to her—the one who could only ever be a fantasy. 

Still, if he was a fantasy, she was going to let herself pretend for at least a minute. “I’m sure he knew,” she said, her voice almost a whisper as she felt her back press against the ship’s railing, as Ben’s eyes began to roam freely over her face, and suddenly she could  _ smell _ how much he wanted her. 

Arousal was coming off of him in waves as he looked at her, eyes hooded as he shuddered with each breath. “We should probably start heading back. It’s getting late.”

It took all of her strength to agree with him, to pull back, to stop herself from leaning forward and claiming his lips with her own. “Yeah, you’re right.” 

“Come on, let’s get inside, you look cold,” he said, then she laughed, and took his arm again as they began to walk back down the ship’s deck. 

**

Ben’s heart was doing a whirlwind of acrobatic tricks in his chest as they walked back toward the first class entrance. Back near the bow, he’d been inches away from kissing her, from laying claim to her mouth as they both lost themselves to a kiss, to something they’d both been holding back from since almost the moment they’d met. 

He’d been engaged for months, but in all that time, he’d never felt that pull to Bazine, and he knew damn well she didn’t feel that pull to him. This was different. This was the sort of feeling that made him question everything—that had him wondering if he needed to break free from the path he’d been going down and head toward the one that he felt  _ destined  _ for. 

Even now, knowing he was doing the right thing in leading them back, he couldn’t help stating at the stars, looking at the constellations his father used to show him and feeling as if they belonged to him and Rey now. The rest of the world could look, but they would never know what those lights meant to him and her, how they immortalized the night he realized that somewhere out there was a fantasy of a better life, one where he actually knew how to smile and feel joy. 

“People wish upon stars, you know,” Rey told him as they walked along. “I don’t think they come true, but I think the sentiment is nice. Opening your heart up to some great ball of light millions of miles away.”

Snorting his amusement, Ben paused as they got a little too close to the first class entrance, just taking one last moment to watch the stars and listen to the sound of the great ship as it cut through the icy waters below. “If wishes came true, I would wish for so many things,” he admitted, hoping his confession wasn’t too honest. He needed to have some hope of walking away from this without giving it all up. His mother was an accepting woman but even she would probably suffer ill health hearing he’d changed his own fate like this so suddenly. 

“As would I,” she replied, then she pulled him back over to the railing, both of them leaning against it as she stared up into the sky again. “I’d probably wish for all the food in the world to be honest with you. That’s the one thing I hate most about rarely having money. No food.”

“Really? You wouldn’t wish for your art to turn a profit?”

She shook her head. “I don’t draw for money. I draw to inspire myself, or to pass the time, but most importantly, I do it so I don’t forget what anything or anyone looks like. I can immortalize people with a stroke of my hand and a piece of charcoal. If you wished for eternal life, Ben Solo, I could grant it to you.”

One of his eyebrows lifted up at that. “Could you now?”

“I already have,” she admitted, then she reached out, and took his hand in hers, and his heart skipped a beat in his chest, rendering him unable to pull away nor tug her in close. “Last night when I rescued you? I stayed up after everyone else had fallen asleep trying to put your face on the paper. I’ll have to show you tomorrow when I have my book again.”

He couldn’t help but to beam at her as she spoke, a blush coating his cheeks at the thought that she’d actually drawn him. “How did I not see this when I looked at your sketches earlier?”

“I hid it,” she admitted, then she laughed. “I should like to do it again, now that I know you a little better.”

Wonder filled his eyes as he looked at her, marveling at how such a person could exist, and he found himself slowly being drawn close to her again, leaning into her space as their eyes continued to speak volumes their lips would never say. “Would you?”

“I would.” Her eyes wandered over his face, then she swallowed, placing a hand on his chest, undoubtedly able to feel his heart beating even through his clothes as she spread her fingers out over it. “And what about you, Ben?”

“What about me?”

“What would you wish for? If wishing on stars were real?” she asked, and his heart spiraled out of control, but he knew exactly what he wanted. 

His wish came to him in an instant. All he wanted was this Omega and the delight she continued to bring him, he wanted her warmth, her wisdom, her  _ light— _ just everything about her that made him unable to stop smiling in her presence. But he couldn’t have it, and so it could only ever be a wish, nothing more. 

Chuckling softly, he reached up to brush a stray strand of hair from her face, then he sighed. “Something I can’t have.” With one last, slow exhale of air, Ben took hold of the hand that was on his chest, and bent to press a kiss to her knuckles, this one lingering far longer than the last. “Goodnight, Rey.”

“Are you going to be all right down there?” she asked as he started to walk away, and for half a second, he froze. No one had ever asked him that before. 

Looking back at her, his hand still outstretched toward the door, he tried once more to fight back the urge to walk forward, and kiss her. This was a battle he was slowly losing, and he knew that if he didn’t turn away within the next few seconds that he’d surge forward and catch her off guard. “I’ll be fine,” he replied, saying it because he had to say it, and not because it would be the truth. After this night, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to see her again, not one his family or class would allow. They’d be overstaying their welcome after this. The fantasy had to end. “I’ll be great. Goodbye, Rey.”

Then he made his way from the deck, just barely registering her quiet little, “Goodbye, Ben,” as she watched the door close behind him, then he forced himself to disappear below deck, prepared to only ever see her again in his dreams. 

Wishes on stars could only ever be just that, wishes said to an endless void that could never come true. What he should’ve known, though, was that once in a blue moon, when one was extremely lucky, magic was real, and wishes did in fact come true. 

One only had to know how to wait, and how to read the signs. 


	8. Flying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We had an unexpected snow day today and I guess it did a lot of good for inspiration! Here’s the longest chapter of the fic thus far!

The next day, Rey was completely unmovable in the spiritual sense. She’d seen a light in Ben’s eyes, a fire in them that had ignited something within her in turn, and when she’d watched him retreat to the first class that night, she’d known without a doubt in her mind that fire was going to go out. At least, it would if someone didn’t do something about it, and she liked to think she stood a sufficient chance. 

Finn and Poe both thought she was absolutely mad. 

“You need to forget about it,” Poe told her as they walked up the deck toward the first class part of the ship. “He’s probably forgotten about you.”

“No, he hasn’t. He needs help, Poe,” she protested. “I saw it in his eyes. Here give me a boost, would you? This piece of deck’s a bit high for a skirt.”

Sighing, Poe and Finn looked at each other, then gave her a leg up onto the deck before following suit. “Rey, you come from two different worlds. Our world and his don’t intersect for a reason,” the latter of the two reminded her. 

“I don’t care.”

“He’s an Alpha. He can take care of himself, he doesn’t need someone to save him,” Poe said, but he held out his hand as they climbed up the steps into the first class part of the ship anyway. 

“Maybe he can, but not while he keeps his soul,” she reminded him, then she paused, turning to face him as they emerged on the first class deck. “You don’t know everything about him. I know… more than you. He’s worth saving. If I don’t stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life now…”

Finn sighed as he saw the resolve taking shape in her face. “You’re not coming with us no matter what we say, are you?”

She shook her head, but squeezed his hand as she began to walk away. “Go back below deck. Bring Amilyn’s dress up to a first class steward as soon as you can. If I’m successful, you probably won’t have to, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” she said, then the three of them exchanged one final look, and the other two Omegas took hold of each other’s arms before descending to their part of the ship. 

Taking in a deep breath, Rey looked at the rest of the deck, watching as a boy and his father played with a top on the wood, laughing gleefully together in the sunlight. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she watched, but it only grew broader when she looked at the coat the man had abandoned on a nearby deck chair. 

Determination setting in, Rey walked casually along behind them, stealing the man’s coat as she walked on, then she ducked inside the first door she could find. The faint smell of sweat entered her nose once the door was closed, and she turned around to realize she’d wound up in the Titanic’s gymnasium, which was luckily empty that Sunday morning. She wasn’t sure if the White Star Line was the type to close its facilities on the holy day, but she didn’t care. This was the perfect place to gather her wits, to try and figure out how to move about through the rest of the first class. 

Luckily, this was something that was proving easier by the minute. 

Voices filled her ears as she sat in waiting, and she looked out the window to see that Ben’s family was fast approaching on the heels of one of the other people she vaguely recognized as having been at the dinner she’d attended the night before.  _ Fuck, what was his name?  _ Andrews? Something Andrews, she thought, she hadn’t been paying much attention, she’d been too busy fending off insults from Bazine or figuring out which fork to use to notice most of the table’s occupants aside from Ben and Amilyn. 

Still, whether she remembered his name or not, the man was headed right in her direction with the family of the man she was trying to rescue in tow. Their paths were crossing, this was the prime time for a rescue, but she had to time it right. 

Reaching into her pocket for a cigarette and a lighter, Rey emerged into the deck once more, heading straight for the railing as she kept her head down, and focused on lighting the cigarette. The tour group luckily passed her by, heading right into the room she’d just left as she took a relieved, nicotine-filled breath. Her lungs may have protested, but her mind was high-fiving itself for a job well done. 

Patience was a virtue she’d been gifted young, and as she puffed her cigarette in the warm sunlight, she utilized it, waiting patiently for Ben’s family to leave so she could steal him away, and beg him to run before that fire in his eyes went out. He had something in him that only came to earth once in a thousand years, an ability to make her whole body shiver and get surround her with warmth at the same time. He was sweet, and his kindness was of the genuine sort that made her wish she could always be surrounded by it, that she wanted to  _ bathe  _ in. 

The people he surrounded himself with? They were going to take that from him. The longer he stayed in their clutches, the worse off he would be. 

Suddenly the door behind her opened, and with one last drag off her cigarette, Rey tossed it into the ocean, and turned around slowly to see Ben’s tour group passing her by, followed shortly after by a very bored—and slightly hungover looking—Ben. His Alpha scent hit her instantly, distracting her for half a second before she moved, rushing forward to grab hold of his arm, and tug him right back into that gymnasium he’d just left. 

“What the hell, Rey?” he asked once they were inside, shock undoubtedly filling him as he found himself pinned to a wall by an Omega he had a good six inches of height over. “You can’t be here.”

“Well, hello to you, too,” she replied, then she caught sight of the fear in his eyes. Something had changed between when they’d separated and now, and whatever it was, she could already tell it wasn’t good. “What happened?”

“What?”

“You have that look in your eyes again, just like when I saw you that first day.” Reaching up, she placed a hand on the Alpha’s cheek, shocked when he turned his head away, his breathing coming a touch too fast for a man who was hardly moving. “What happened to you this morning?”

Ben’s lower lip began to quiver, just like it had the night she saved his life, then he shook his head. “I can’t see you again,” he told her. “I have to stay with them. My family—“ Pulling away, he ran a hand through his hair, and took in a deep, shaky breath. “I can’t do this to them.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I can’t do this to them. It would kill my mother.”

Shaking her head, Rey approached him again. “Well, what about you?”

He turned his back to her, staring out the window as he watched people walk on by. “What  _ about _ me?”

_ Fuck,  _ did he really not see it or did he just not care? Or worse, did he care but he still didn’t want to be saved anyway? Either way, she couldn’t just watch him fall apart, and so she stepped forward, resting a hand on his shoulder again. “Ben, they’ve got you trapped,” she whispered, turning him around again so he was facing her. “And you’ve been strong, but I’ve seen you break once. If you go down this path, I won’t always be there to pull you over the rail. I can’t always save you.”

“I don’t need you to save me, Omega,” he attempted to growl, but it didn’t sound genuine. It was a thinly veiled lie. “I’m doing just fine.”

“That Alpha shit isn’t going to work on me.” She shook her head, then she placed a hand on his chest, pressing him into the window. “Not right now.”

His Adam’s Apple bobbed as he tried to redirect his thoughts, guiding them down another path as he searched for some desperate way out. “I’m getting married, Rey.”

“I know.”

“I’m getting married, and last night with you, I—“

“Don’t,” she warned him, praying he wasn’t going to say what she thought he was going to say. 

“I can’t do this. I have to—I have to marry Bazine, I have to—“

“That’s part of the trap, Ben,” she explained to him, then she reached up, and rested a hand on his cheek successfully this time. Once she was touching him, he seemed to calm down some, his breathing slowing as he looked at her, as if somehow, for a fraction of a second in this silence, he’d forgotten all of his problems. “You have a fire in you, you’re so strong, but even the strongest of us have limits so… Run, Ben. Get out of here while you still can. Don’t go this way,  _ please _ , don’t go this way.”

For a moment, it almost looked like he might’ve been about to agree with her, then he rested a hand over hers, and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” she breathed, stepping back as she watched him slowly make his way toward the door. “Ben…”

“Forget about me, Rey,” he replied, then without looking back, he pushed the door open, and rejoined his group tour, leaving her alone in the gymnasium in shock. 

Sure, the situation was complex, and it took a lot of courage to leave the only life he’d ever known even if it was abysmally toxic to him, but she’d thought that when they’d been looking at the stars together the night before that they’d built something, that a real connection had been sparked between them. She had seen galaxies in his eyes, and every story he told her about the constellations was another she’d hold in her heart forever. 

When he’d wished upon a star and said he’d wished for something he couldn’t have, she’d been positive he meant her, but maybe… maybe she’d been wrong. 

Feeling a little heartbroken but unwilling to show it, Rey left the gymnasium as well, heading back for the third class with her tail between her legs and ruined pride, hoping that somehow, someday, Ben came to his senses and got the hell out. Even if it wasn’t with her. 

**

He felt numb the rest of the day. Ben’s whole body was just buzzing with numbness like it did when his arm fell asleep, but it was everywhere. Each and every one of his movements was done on autopilot, like he wasn’t in complete control. 

Sitting down for lunch had never felt so empty, and he wasn’t sure what was being discussed amongst the gentlemen he was sitting closest to, but he noticed that their voices, the inflections and emotional tones, had remained the exact same as they were every other evening. Not a single, subtle detail had changed, and it was honestly frightening. 

Suddenly he remembered the feeling he’d gotten that made him run to the Titanic’s stern the other night, the reason he’d met Rey. This was a special preview of his life as if he’d already lived it. This was what he had to look forward to for the rest of his days, and he had only himself to blame for turning her down. 

If he never saw her again, he knew he would regret it. He had to find her while they were still on this ship, he had to find her and get out of this. She’d shown him the way, and he’d been fool enough to reject it. 

Hurriedly excusing himself from lunch, Ben straightened his tie, then repeated the previous day’s primping on his way to the third class decks. This time it didn’t feel as ridiculous, since he actually was trying to impress her. The night before when they’d been together beneath the stars had confirmed for him that they had some kind of connection, that their souls were not necessarily bound, but similar enough to nearly be one in a way that transcended their designations natural inclinations toward one another. 

He’d never felt a thing for the woman he was engaged to marry, and he was absolutely falling head over heels for the one he’d danced with the night before. 

Arriving in the third class common area, he observed a small crowd of people, but not as many as he’d expected to see. Many must’ve been in their bunks, he supposed, perhaps still hungover from the partying the night before. Amongst the empty seats, however, he spotted the men she’d said she was friends with—men he’d danced and shared beers with as well—the night before. 

“Finn! Poe!” he cried, capturing their attention before he walked down the remaining steps, and made his way toward them, finding it odd that Rey wasn’t with them as he approached. “Good afternoon.”

“Can’t get enough of us, huh, Solo?” Poe asked, giving him a smile that seemed to undress him more and more the wider it got. “What brings you to the third class today?”

“Probably Rey,” Finn replied before he could get a word in, then the two men snickered to themselves as Ben crossed his arms over his chest. 

Technically, they were right. He was down here for Rey, but they could at least let him say it before they started laughing. “Yes, I am. Could you tell me where I might be able to find her?”

More snickering ensued, then Poe pointed up toward the ceiling, and winked. “She’s up there in her favorite spot. Probably sketching people by the bow,” he said, then he leaned in a little closer. “She’s drawn you, you know.”

A blush colored Ben’s cheeks as he began to step away, wanting to catch Rey before she left the bow and sent him on a wild goose chase all over again. “I know,” he replied, then he bowed his head. “Thanks, gentlemen.” And with that, he made his way from steerage back up onto the ship’s decks, making a run toward the bow like a mad man. 

By the time he got past the crow’s nest and had a clear view of the bow, he was just a little short of breath, but at least he had a good reason. Rey was exactly where Finn and Poe had said she’d be, or at least, someone with her silhouette was standing at the bow, hands placed on either side of the railing as they looked on into the setting sun. 

The whole world was painted a pink-orange hue around them as he approached, making him feel almost as if he was witnessing a dream, but the cold biting at his cheeks couldn’t be anything but real. This was happening, he was making the choice to break the chains that bound him to misery and free himself. There would be no taking this back, but he didn’t savor this moment, he didn’t wallow in it and allow for time to have second thoughts, he simply walked forward, and let himself be captivated by the sight of her skirts rippling in the wind, her hair caught on the breeze so that it fanned out behind her in a similar fashion. She looked like some sort of goddess the way the light shone from her skin, and he wanted to kneel at her feet and worship at her altar. 

Those weren’t very Alpha-like thoughts, but he knew beauty when he saw it, and Rey was  _ captivating.  _ If anyone else were there to bear witness to what he was seeing, he was certain they’d be just as mesmerized. 

“Rey,” he called out, and she turned, her irises looking like they were made of smoldering embers as they met his. “I changed my mind.”

The corners of her mouth twitched up into a smile as she faced him, that charming grin he knew so well on full display as she stepped toward him, but said nothing as he made his final approach. 

“They said I could find you here—“ he started, but then she shushed him, causing his eyes to widen in surprise. 

“Give me your hand,” she told him, and then there it was, that spell from last night, that magic that had captivated him so from the moment he’d first laid eyes on her. This was that feeling he knew he’d been missing with the woman he’d nearly married, the one he’d never gotten with anyone else, and it wasn’t just because of the sweet Omega scent he caught on the breeze. 

Knowing he’d trust anything she asked him to do, Ben offered her his hand, then quirked an eyebrow. “Tell me what you want,” he whispered, but his voice was commanding all the same, causing a shiver to run through them both. 

“I want you to close your eyes and walk forward,” she replied, then he fulfilled her request, and began taking his first steps toward the bow. “Keep them closed. Do you trust me?”

“I trust you,” he said, then he walked forward until he felt his free hand meet the bow, and Rey let go of his other one so he could grip it with that as well. 

“Keep them closed. Are you scared?”

“No,” he replied as he felt her moving around behind him, then he laughed as one of her hands planted itself on his shoulders, and he felt her climb up onto the railing, one foot on each side as she climbed up just high enough to be the same height as him, then she wrapped her arms around his waist. 

Her hands joined over the center of his stomach as she leaned forward, her chin ghosting over the fabric of his suit jacket as she began to whisper in his ear, “Let go of the rail and open your eyes.”

He lifted his hands from the rail, letting them spread out on either side of him as Rey picked up his hands, and brought them out toward the sky. As he opened his eyes, sunlight nearly blinded him, but after a few seconds of blinking, Ben gasped in awe. The ship had disappeared beneath him, around him, and there was nothing but the ocean and the setting sun. “Rey, I’m flying,” he breathed, laughing delightedly as she giggled in his ear, his Omega bringing her arms back in to hold him close as they flew into the sunset together. 

His laughter slowly began to subside when he felt her head tilt down away from his ear and toward his neck, and his whole body shuddered as he felt her breath ghost over his mating gland.  _ Fuck _ , when was the last time he’d had a rut? 

Shaking that thought from his head, Ben moaned softly as she inhaled deeply against his neck, scenting him properly as she buried her nose in the scent gland at the base of his skull beneath his ear. Still, she said nothing, she just pressed a kiss lower down against his mating gland, as if promising to lay claim to it later. She could have it. She could have all of him, he just wanted all of her in return. 

Turning his head into her touch, Ben watched as she pulled back to look at him, brushing the hair from his face with one of her hands before she wrapped them around his waist again, holding on tightly to him as he slowly twisted in her arms. He never quite turned fully enough to pull away from the sunset, but he turned enough so that when he reached up to guide her head back, he was able to press a kiss over her mating gland, too. He wasn’t one to be outdone. 

“Ben,” she breathed, and as he pulled away, he caught sight of the next thing he wanted desperately to kiss. 

Rey’s lips were already pink, but in the sunlight they were being hued the color of cherries, or at least as if they were stained by them, and they were slightly parted, open,  _ wanting.  _ Did she want him to kiss her? The way she was looking at him made him think she was almost  _ begging  _ to be kissed, like she was made specifically to be kissed by him. 

Feeling bold and confident from his ability to seemingly fly, he began to lean in, his head tilting back a little more as his eyes began to shut, and his hand came up to caress the back of her head. His heart was pounding like a drum against his chest, enhanced by the warmth of the sunlight heating his body, but he wasn’t scared. This was the most sure thing he’d ever done in his life. 

As his lips finally met Rey’s, he finally felt what it meant to be  _ alive.  _ That first touch ignited something in him that he’d thought was dead the night they’d met, but it was now bursting with life, his whole world an array of colors and fireworks in his eyes as he began to move his lips against hers, amazed by how perfectly she fit with him. 

It was as if his soul had found its other half, like they were two pieces of a broken glass made whole again; a picture torn in two, now back in full viewing.  _ The Omega to his Alpha.  _ He felt like he’d found peace, like he was home, and as his hands threaded through her hair and she began to kiss him back in earnest, he felt more like flying than ever. 

They were soaring onward through the sky, him and her, and there wasn’t anything or anyone that could ever slow them down or stop their flight. They were flying above it all, soaring somewhere above the gods that ruled the Titanic and the world, above Bazine, his mother, and the rest of the first class, and above life as they both knew it. 

Rey’s tongue swept into his mouth as she deepened the kiss, and he allowed her entrance, hungry for more of her— _ needing  _ more of her—as the ship journeyed on toward New York. Meeting her in the middle, the kiss only grew in its intensity, burning hotter and hotter as the two people kissing on the bow lost themselves completely, both entering a silent vow to not part from one another until their lungs were well and truly out of air. 

But that was a ways away, and as far as Ben was concerned, he’d be kissing her forever, and so he kissed her just like that, as if they had forever, as if they never had to part again, and their worries were a million miles away. 

For all they knew, they were. 


	9. The Portrait

Ben’s stateroom was fucking enormous. That was her first thought when he led her inside fifteen minutes later. Her third class cabin consisted of two bunk beds occupied by four strangers and she got one quarter of the room to call her own, but otherwise had no free space. 

Up here in the first class, Ben had not only a bed, but a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and a private deck. He truly was from luxury, and it struck her again how impossible their connection was. Yet as she looked over at him, watching as he took off his coat and began to remove his shoes, she was suddenly very, very grateful it had happened. “So where would you like to do this?”

“The loveseat,” he answered her, then he crossed the room, and pulled out a small sofa into the center of it. “I want to lie back and enjoy this.”

“Mmm that’s fair,” she replied, pulling out another chair before scanning her sketchbook for signs of an empty page on which to draw him. “This could take a minute. You’ll want to be somewhere comfortable.”

A smirk blossomed on Ben’s face, then he winked at her as he walked over to the far side of the room. Figuring this was as good a time as any to get comfortable herself, she sat down in the chair, watching curiously as he approached a safe, then mouthed the combination to himself as he worked to open it. Once it was open, he reached inside, and pulled out a little black box, like one that might hold a piece of jewelry. 

Curiosity piqued, she leaned forward in her seat, observing him as he took hold of the lid, and removed it, setting it down on top of the safe—which he then closed—before he turned to her and held up the shiniest, most golden fob watch she’d ever seen. “My fiancé gifted me this to try and win my affections.” He let the chain fall between his fingers, dangling loosely in the air as her eyes locked on, hypnotized. “As you are well aware, it didn’t work.”

It was one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry she’d ever seen, glistening even in dim lighting like this. The watch also had to be the most expensive thing she’d ever laid her eyes upon, and just looking at it made her feel like a criminal. “It’s—it’s lovely.”

“It’s very heavy,” he assured her, looking as if he wanted to bounce it in his hands, but was unable to. “I want you to draw me with it.”

Blinking, Rey gave him a nod. That was it? “All right,” she replied, then she set her gaze upon the empty piece of paper, plucking her charcoal from her pocket as she prepared to draw Ben and his watch. 

“Rey?” he asked, and suddenly he looked nervous, his lower lip was quivering again, and she could tell he was tense with anticipation of what he was about to ask her.

“Yes?”

“I want you to draw me with only this,” he repeated, this time undoing the top button of his shirt to drive his point home, and her breath hitches as she understood it. 

He wanted to be drawn with only the watch. No clothes, no nice suit, socks, shoes, tie, or any other sign of grandeur. Ben wanted to be drawn completely nude, which meant that in a matter of minutes, she would be seeing every part of him. Her entire body flooded with heat at the thought, the ache that had steadily been developing between her legs since their kiss on the bow growing a little more intense as she looked up at the Alpha, and realized how serious this had suddenly become. 

“Oh,” she breathed, crossing one leg over the other to relieve the ache between her thighs, needing a bit of that sweet friction to abate the increasing desire she had to have him there. “Sure.”

“It’s no problem?” he asked, then he undid another button, exposing more of his throat to her as he met her gaze, holding it with the confidence of a true Alpha even as she watched his fingers tremble in her peripheral vision. 

“None at all,” she replied, then she watched as he slowly began to strip his clothing, his fingers working at every button of his shirt, undoing them all in a line that revealed a series of hardened, toned muscles beneath his clothes. Her breathing became increasingly unsteady as he then slid his suspenders from his shoulders, and stripped his shirt from them shortly after, exposing his arms to her line of sight. Taking the lord’s name in vain, Rey shamelessly let her eyes wash over him, wondering how she’d ever gotten this lucky as he tossed his clothing to the side, then began unbuttoning his trousers. 

She wasn’t going to survive this. Watching him undress was going to be the death of her, and as he pushed his pants and trousers to the floor, Rey gripped her piece of charcoal almost hard enough to break it, feeling as if the temperature of the room was rocketing up toward the moon. This was only worsened when she watched him straighten up after, kicking his clothing off to the side as he stood in front of her as naked as the day he was born. 

Instantly, her eyes were drawn to his cock, and she fought back a whimper just looking at him. Like all Alphas, he was predictably well-endowed, but it still caught her off guard to realize how big and impossibly hard he was. She had half a mind to just throw her sketchbook and charcoal to the side and climb onto him then and there, but she had no idea where to start. 

Inexperience winning out, she raised a shaky finger, and pointed it at the loveseat. “Lie down and—and p-put your arm above your head,” she told him, struggling to keep her voice steady as he walked over, and laid back on the loveseat just like she’d instructed him to. “Hold the watch in the palm of your other hand.”

“Now what, boss?” he asked, then the bastard smirked at her like he knew exactly what he was doing as he adjusted himself. 

“Lie very still, and keep your eyes on me,” she replied, then she shook her head. “And don’t move them.”

Grinning, he gave her a nod. “Yes ma’am.”

“Don’t move,” she repeated, bringing her charcoal to the paper as he muttered an apology. “Okay…” And with that, she picked her starting point, sketching out the first contours of Ben’s chest, feeling his eyes on her the entire time as she began to draw his naked form from life. 

**

Ben’s heart was pounding in his chest. For one thing, he was naked in front of the only Omega whose scent had ever enthralled him, for another, that Omega was Rey, and for yet another, he could smell the combined scents of their arousal lingering through the room. As the minutes passed and he watched her charcoal move across the page in her hands, he became increasingly aware that it was only growing more potent, almost to the point where he was suffocating. 

A bead of sweat had developed on Rey’s brow as she looked between him and her paper, her attention split evenly between the two as she began to focus more earnestly on his face rather than his body. The room was relatively cool, and yet, both of them seemed to feel hot. He could feel a heat pooling in his abdomen, starting low and spreading out everywhere, as if he were experiencing the beginnings of an oncoming rut, and given that he hadn’t had one in months, it made sense, but given that he could smell Rey was maybe seconds away from going into heat, it might have been a problem. If they left their scents in the stateroom like this, his mother and Bazine would figure out instantly what had happened, and the latter of the two would probably try to spin it into something that could get them both into trouble. 

They needed to get out of here, but he wanted to finish this drawing. They could survive a few more minutes before they fell apart, couldn't they?

It was going to be difficult as all hell, though. Watching Rey’s face, features contorted in concentration, was one of the hottest things he’d ever seen. She was a vision, he thought, a marvel he was grateful to have the chance to see, and even as his cock became hard enough that it was nearly painful, Ben found himself lucky. She’d freed him from his confines, he’d been trapped in a cage, and now he was completely free of everything. 

Including his clothes. 

That last thought made him gave an amused chuckle out loud, which caused Rey to jolt from her concentration as she stared at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” he replied, then she got back to work, brows furrowing again as she continued running the charcoal over the page. “You look so serious.”

Snorting her amusement, Rey wiped the sweat off her brow, then resumed her work on the paper, ignoring him as she translated his image onto the page. “Stay still, you big oaf.”

Mimicking her affectionately, Ben couldn’t keep the smile from his face as she rolled her eyes, then he let his sweep over her again, catching sight of the sheen of sweat that had now spread to the rest of her body.  _ Shit _ , she really was getting close to her heat, wasn’t she? He could smell the pheromones in the air, the scent of her body screaming for him to come to her. 

All he wanted was to get up, take her face in his hands again, and kiss her senseless. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to move, to go after her, to lay claim to her lips and then to the mating gland on her neck that he’d also kissed earlier. The thought exhilarated him, but he knew he couldn’t follow through with it. He couldn’t do that with her here, and he didn’t even know if she wanted to yet. 

Looking at her, though, it became very, very obvious that she did want him, and that in and of itself was a terrifying thought that managed to break through the increasingly thick fog of lust clouding his brain. 

Somehow, he made it through the rest of the drawing, unsure how he’d survived such an experience without spontaneously coming into the air. It would’ve been an amusing image, and thinking about it did, in fact, make him chuckle, but it luckily didn’t happen, and he was able to put his clothes back on in piece as Rey put together the finishing touches. 

At least, he put most of them back on. His shirt remained only half-buttoned and his suspenders were slack at his sides, but he was clothed enough that everything important was covered, he thought as he put the watch back in the safe. Rey still continued to look at him as if he were fully nude, but he suspected that had more to do with the ache he knew was between her legs than anything else. 

“Can I see it?” he asked, rolling up his sleeve as he approached her cautiously, not wanting to spook her or cause alarm. 

Taking in a deep, shaky breath, Rey nodded, and held it out on her lap. “Come here,” she whispered, like she was using the last of her strength in holding back her heat. 

Walking around to the other side of the chair, Ben gazed over her shoulder, trying desperately not to inhale her scent as he leaned down, and took in the image she’d so beautifully crafted. 

It was stunning, really, how lifelike it was. He could see every contour of his muscles, every inch of his smooth skin in the strokes of charcoal. She’d even thought to capture the moles on his face, the stray strands of his hair that had stuck to his forehead in the heat that was slowly enveloping the room— _ but mostly the two of them _ —and the slight part of his lips. Not a single thing about him evaded her capture, and even now as he felt her looking up at him, Ben felt as if she’d somehow managed to see him better than he saw himself. 

“It’s perfect,” he told her, resting his hands on her shoulders as he bent down, then turned his face toward hers as he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Thank you.”

Panting slightly as he pulled away, she licked her lips, closing her sketchbook before she stood up, then they looked at each other, heat in their eyes that they both understood all too well. “Ben, I know you can feel it,” she breathed shakily, her legs shifting together beneath her skirt as she set the sketchbook down. “I shouldn’t be here.”

He shook his head. “No,  _ we  _ shouldn’t be here,” he said, then he gestured to himself. “I know you can feel it, too.”

“I can.” Her voice was trembling, her entire body tense as she fought back against what he knew to be the first pains of her heat. “We should probably get out of here.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere but here,” she said, then she walked up to him, her scent so overwhelming he had the thought to ask her if she’d let him take her on the loveseat then and there, but then he shook it off. “Ben?” She placed a hand on his arm, letting it fall until it grasped his. “Do you want this? With me? Is this too fast?”

“I want this, with you, even if it is too fast.” He leaned forward and down, resting his forehead against hers as the aches in his own body became more and more intense in time with hers. “I’ve never wanted anyone else.”

Shivering, Rey leaned forward, and pulled him into a kiss, one that was far more fierce and animalistic than the sweet, sensual one they’d shared on the bow. Her lips were almost bruising against his, but it made adrenaline rush through his veins, and he felt that sweet reminder that he was alive again as he returned it, wrapping his other arm around her waist to pull her close. 

A moan escaped him as her lower abdomen brushed against his erection, then he pulled away, panting hard as he looked into her eyes. “We need to go,” he almost whimpered, then she nodded, and tugged on his hand, leading him out of the stateroom, and into the hallways of the Titanic to find somewhere, anywhere that could contain the raw energy building up between them. 


	10. In the Heat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The titular heat has arrived.
> 
> *also in case you haven’t noticed yet, the title is my HEAT will go on not my HEART. Subtract a letter 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Adrenaline was pumping through her veins as Ben led her to the lifts, and ordered the operator to take them down as far as the damned thing would go. The poor young man in charge of the ship’s very expensive looking elevator blinked at them in fright, but he obeyed the Alpha’s command, sending them down to E deck as Ben and Rey leaned back against the wall together, laughing jubilantly even as the combined pain of her heat and his rut had them struggling to breathe. 

It was so stupid, really, for them to be acting this way. She felt like a teenager, and while a year ago she technically had been nineteen, she was still a touch too old to be running about the ship with a boy she’d only known for days trying to find somewhere to take out her sexual frustrations on him. 

They were panting hard as the elevator descended, and she leaned into him, feeling as if she were an absolute mess when he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. A groan escaped her lips against his chest as more pain shot up from her abdomen, accompanied by a fresh wave of arousal and an increased feeling of dampness in her underwear.  _ Fuck,  _ she was so wet. She was amazed that she hadn’t created a puddle on the floor at that point with how much slick she was producing. 

The image of the Titanic’s first class stepping in puddles of it and falling on their asses made her giggle, but before Ben could ask her what she found so funny, the lift arrived on E deck, and they rushed out of it. She groaned as he led her down a hallway, then she squeezed his hand, urging him to stop as they passed the last of what she suspected were residential doors. “Ben, I’m not going to make it much further, please can we just stop somewhere?”

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, her Alpha gave her a nod, then he pulled open the next door they walked by, and pulled them both inside. The volume in this room was ear splitting, the sound so loud she had to cover her ears in seconds. It was also hot, impossibly hot, and she could hear steam hissing through the pipes all around them. 

A quick look down a nearby hatch told her they were just above the boiler room, just above the bowels of the Titanic—it’s beating heart. Looking up at Ben, she knew they had to keep going. “Give me a hand,” she told him, stepping up onto the hatch as she reached out for his hand. 

“What? We can’t go down there, it’s—“

“Ben, we’ll be able to pass through without anyone being able to tell we’re in heat or rut because they’re too busy boiling alive themselves,” she told him, then she waved her hand in front of him again. “Come on, let’s  _ go. _ ”

Sighing dramatically, Ben took her hand, and helped her up onto the entrance of the hatch. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“You love this,” she replied, then she leaned forward, capturing his lips in a brief kiss before she began to descend into what looked like the visual representation of hell. All around her as she descended the lights took on the warm tones of fire, and the rings of the ladder were nearly hot enough that she thought of brimstone, of the old way of teaching the Bible that made people truly fear god and all his wrath. 

If she was destined for hell, at least she knew what was coming, but as Ben began to descend the ladder above her, she had a feeling that hell may have been more pleasant than all her teachings had led on.

When she landed safely on the ground, she reached up for Ben’s waist, helping soften his landing before the two of them looked around, and searched for a way out. This was certainly no place to spend her heat, and she wasn’t sure where that place was yet, but this wasn’t it. 

Tugging on Ben’s hand, Rey began to run off to the right, ignoring the shouts of the ship’s workers that she shouldn’t be there as she laughed jubilantly on through the steaming halls. Behind her, she could hear him laughing, too; both of them lost in the utter madness of what they were doing as they rushed through the rising heat and the men just trying to do their jobs. 

A part of her felt bad, honestly, but as they reached the end of the boiler room, Rey paused to catch her breath, looking around behind them to make sure that they hadn’t been followed. Seeing nothing, she moved to tug on Ben’s hand, to lead him out of the boilers and into the next room, but then he tugged back, pulling her into his arms. 

Confusion swimming across her face, she watched him curiously, struggling to understand why he stopped her until he leaned down in the midst of the steam, and kissed her again. A small hum escaped her as she returned it, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck as her heat fueled body demanded more, more, and more of him. Her fingers weaves themselves into his hair, living for how soft it felt beneath her skin as they kissed deeply in their little steam nook, their skin growing more damp and downright sticky by the minute as they became slicked with sweat. 

Heat pooled low in her abdomen as the kiss deepened, then Ben left her mouth, his kisses trailing onto her neck as she gasped for air. Each one was featherlight and soft, making her feel like she was floating even as the ache between her legs grew more intense. The kisses consumed her, and she wondered how she’d had such restraint the night before when she’d been with him beneath the stars. Now such a feat seemed impossible. 

Every second with him was exhilarating, an endless rush she couldn’t get enough of, but she knew she couldn’t lose herself here. Maybe in the next room, but not here. They weren’t quite alone yet. 

Groaning, she pulled back, placing her hands on his chest as she panted hard from the exertion. “We can’t stay here.”

“Mmm,” he moaned against her neck, then he pulled back, his eyes hooded as they looked down into hers, and he smiled. “We should go.”

A relieved sigh fell from her lips, then she tugged on his hand, pulling him free from the steam and smoke, and toward the next door. She could hear his heavy footfalls behind her as they rushed through the door, pulling each other inside before they slammed it shut, and air that was much cooler descended on their sweat covered bodies. 

Gulping it down eagerly, Rey tilted her head back and took several deep, heaving breaths, cleansing her lungs of the overly intensive and hot boiler room air. “Christ,” she breathed, stepping further into the room, which was filled with countless boxes, possessions, and even the odd vehicle or two. “Next time we’re in this position, can we find a different route?”

Ben laughed as he pulled on her hand, leading her deeper into the cargo-hold as she spoke, then he squeezed it. “My apologies,” he said, then he led her toward a red car with a shiny coat of paint, which glistened even in the low lighting. “But I don’t think you regret it, do you?”

Thinking back to the kiss they’d shared just a little while earlier, no, she couldn’t bring herself to regret it. There had been a certain thrill to what they’d done, and she certainly wouldn’t be able to forget it anytime soon. “No, not at all.”

Another grin lit up his face as they approached the car, then he reached out, and opened the door. “Then would you care for a ride?”

“I would love one,” she replied, then she allowed him to lead her into the car, the two of them climbing up into the backseat together as giggles fell helplessly from their lips. It felt playful in spite of the seriousness and desperation wrought about by her heat and his rut, like this was just a goofy little rendezvous, and maybe it was. Biology was a powerful thing, but she didn’t need Ben to survive this, they both could’ve made it through with their hands alone, but it was nice to have him there nonetheless. 

Once she was fully situated inside the car, she closed the door behind her, and looked into Ben’s eyes, ignoring the scent of their raging pheromones as they warred in the air between them. They could wait another minute for the two of them to be ready for this. In spite of the heats and ruts, her first time was something she’d been wanting to make memorable, not something that she wanted to take lightly. She wanted it to be soft and sweet, and looking at Ben now, the way his lower lip was quivering and his whole body was trembling, she could tell he felt it, too. 

Taking his hand in hers, Rey kissed each of his knuckles, her lips gentle against his skin as she looked at his hand, then up at him. “Are you nervous?”

“No, are you?”

“No,” she admitted, then she took his hand, and placed it high up at her side, just over her rib cage by her left breast. “Put your hands on me, Ben. I don’t think I can take another minute of this.”

Nodding, he leaned in close as his hand shifted around to the front of her, cupping the entirety of her breast in his palm as he leaned in close so that his lips ghosted over hers. “Kiss me.”

She did, pulling him in close as her hands tugged on his hair, and as their lips began to move as one, she felt him reach for the top button of her blouse, undoing the buttons steadily one by one. Moaning softly into the kiss, she let go of his hair with one hand, using the other to free him of his jacket. 

Pulling back from her, he removed his jacket before he was kissing her again, both of them working steadily at each other’s shirt buttons as the kiss grew more and more intense, consuming them both the longer it went on. She felt like her whole body was on fire, as if she was burning from the inside out, but in a way that was oddly pleasant. 

This was what her body was made to do, she realized. She was meant to hold him like this, to be kissed this fiercely, it was how she was  _ designed.  _ This was fate, magnetism, an attraction of two poles, a destiny that couldn’t be unwritten. 

Once their shirts were off, Ben’s fingers hurriedly began to work on getting her out of her skirt, her stockings, her boots, stripping her down until she was bare before him, and he was still disappointingly half-clothed. 

That didn’t matter, though. For the next few seconds after he’d freed her from the last of her clothes, he stared at her where she sat back against the seat, his eyes drinking her in hungrily, as if he needed her—needed to see, touch,  _ taste  _ every inch of her. He was breathless, bare chest heaving with every slow intake of oxygen as his eyes wandered over her chest, her abdominal muscles, the bit of hair between her legs, her thighs, and all the way down to the end of her toes. “You’re extraordinary,” he told her, a hand coming up to caress her jaw as he pressed a kiss there, then another lower down on her neck, his tongue darting out to lick a bead of sweat that hat developed there before he moved lower to her collarbone. “Incredible.”

“Ben,” she breathed as he moved down, down, and down. “What are you doing?”

He planted a kiss in the valley between her breasts, one of his hands coming up to rub his thumb over one of her hardening nipples as he knelt down on the floor in front of her, hands falling to her knees as he spread her legs, and fit himself in the space between them. After he was settled, he took in a deep breath, taking in the scent of her as her arousal was exposed to the air, slick all but dripping down onto the leather of the car seat. “Rey, your scent,” he breathed, turning his head to place a kiss on the inside of her thigh by her knee. “It’s exquisite.”

A whimper escaped her lips as his left a steady trail along her inner thigh, his hands lifting it up onto his shoulder as he brought his mouth closer and closer to her cunt. “Ben, please, just fuck me,” she begged him, not wanting to take another minute of teasing as the aching pain of her heat roared to life once more. “I need you.”

“I know,” he replied, then he pressed an open mouthed kiss to her entrance, his tongue slipping inside of her for a brief half second as she cried out from the pleasure, her head falling back as she bit her hand to stifle another obscenely loud moan. “Just… please, let me taste you first.” He then looked up at her expectantly. “And don’t cover your mouth. I want to hear every single sound you make. I want to know exactly how much you love this, Omega.”

Removing her hand from her mouth, Rey cried out loudly, like he’d asked her to, as he licked a stripe from her entrance to her clit, moaning like he was the one getting pleasured as he tasted her before he did it again, and she swore she saw stars. His name fell from her lips like a prayer as he did it again and again, then he stopped, but the pause was only so he could suck her clit between his lips, and make her swear, hips nearly bucking into his mouth as he smirked against her skin. 

The bastard knew exactly what he was doing to her, and it showed. His cheeks hollowed, and she saw stars in her vision as she nearly came, her hand flying out to the side, and colliding with the fogged over window as she moaned from the sensation of his tongue flicking her clit, a fresh coat of slick leaking out of her as she warned him that she was close. 

That made him pull away, and she whimpered at the loss of him, disappointment filling her gaze as she watched him retreat, and he began to undo the button of his trousers. “What are you doing?” she panted breathlessly, begging him with her eyes to bring his mouth back to her cunt and lap at her until she came. “Why’d you stop?”

Ben laughed as he finally kicked off his shoes, then freed himself from his trousers as she watched, his cock coming into her line of sight once more. Somehow, though she hadn’t thought it was possible, he was even harder than he’d been before while she was drawing him. Her breath caught again as she looked at it, then one of his hands came up to support her chin, and he swallowed. “I want to come  _ with  _ you,” he told her, then he leaned forward, and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. “Say you’ll let me.”

Another nod was given to him as he sat down on the seat beside her, then she climbed onto his lap, her legs straddling his as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and looked down into his eyes. “You should know, I’ve never done this.”

“Neither have I,” he told her, then one of his hands splayed out on her back, pulling her close against him so that her breasts were pressing into his upper chest as he looked up at her. “I learned what I just did to you from a book my mother failed to conceal in the library when I was younger.”

Both of them laughed at this, then she groaned as a fresh wave of heat flooded her body, reminding her that she needed him  _ soon.  _ “So we’ll learn together, then?” 

“Together,” he confirmed with a nod, then he took his cock in his hand, and she pulled back just a little so she could position her entrance over his tip as they both held their breath in anticipation. 

With a shaky exhale, Rey began to lower herself onto him, her whole body trembling as his tip pressed into her, sliding in with ease thanks to how impossibly wet she was. Both of their mouths fell open, jaws slack as they began to settle into each other, and she took him in as deep as he would go, stopping when the stretch of him began to hurt more than it felt nice. 

Ben brushed a strand of hair from her eyes as she panted, her breath washing over his sweat and slick covered features as he looked up at her in awe. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, pulling her in close as he kissed both of her cheeks. “So perfect.”

She sighed against his touches as she began to rock against him, riding his cock slowly at first as he pressed gentle kisses everywhere his lips could reach, whispering little encouragements along the way. Her control began to waiver as another heat pain made her want to double over, and she began to fuck him in earnest, riding him like her life depended on it as he buried his face in her chest, moaning her name against her skin as they fogged the windows of the car even more than they already had. 

The sound of her name on his lips like that had her singing internally, making her realize that this was how she wanted to spend every heat after this. Perhaps on the next day of her heat, they could try finding a bed to do this on, but for now, this would do. This was perfect and frighteningly intimate. Every sound they made, every move, every breath was witnessed only by the two of them, and as Ben’s hips bucked up into hers, she felt herself growing painstakingly close again, her body tensing as it prepared to come apart. 

Sharp little gasps escaped her as he reached a hand between them, his thumb rubbing against her clit as she rode him a little faster, the pains of her heat already beginning to subside as he repositioned his face by her neck, breathing in deeply against her mating gland. For a second, she thought he might’ve been about to bite down, mating her in the heat of the moment, but Ben was a gentleman first and foremost, and he likely knew as well as she did that the only way to ensure they didn’t start a baby they didn’t want that night was for them to not be mated. 

She wanted to, she wanted to mate him, to bite down on his gland and claim him as hers forever, but they weren’t ready for that yet. A mating bond was forever, and this wasn’t the time. They needed to wait until the Titanic docked in New York and they had the ability to truly, properly settle down. Then she could claim him, and he could claim her, and they’d be able to start that forever they both wanted so badly. 

“B-Ben I want you to knot me,” she whispered in his ear, gasping as his cock hit a spot deep inside of her that she’d never been able to reach with her fingers. 

“You’re serious?”

“Deadly.”

“I-Okay.”

“ _ Fuck _ , I’m going to come.”

Thrusting up into her again, Ben smiled against her skin. “So am I,” he replied, then he sped up his thrusts, and she rocked against him just a little more quickly, matching his speed as they built each other up and up and up, until the wave suddenly crested, and she came around his cock with a sharp cry. 

A similar sound left his lips as he emptied himself inside of her, holding on tightly as they both came undone in perfect synchrony, the other person’s name on their lips. Pure bliss filled her as she rode him through it, only stopping when she felt a swelling just inside of her, and she realized that he’d knotted her just as she’d asked him to, making her feel full and sated, completely free of any pain as she held him close, her arms wrapping around his shoulders a little more tightly as she rested her forehead against his. 

“Perfect,” she whispered to him. “You were absolutely perfect.”

“So were you,” he replied, then he leaned forward, and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. “I’ll never forget this.”

“Neither will I.”

“Can I just hold you?” he asked, wiping a sweat droplet from her cheek before he gestured to where they were still joined. “We've got a bit of time to kill.”

Laughter falling from her lips, she grinned. “Of course,” she replied, then she leaned in, and pulled him in for a sweet, gentle kiss that brought a feeling of peace over them both. 

It was there amidst the steam and heat they’d created in the backseat of that car that she knew belonged to neither of them that she realized she was in love with him. This wasn’t just a simple attraction or any ordinary spell, but it was a genuine connection, a love that she could see written in stars like the constellations he’d told her about. The love she’d found with him was the long lasting eternal kind, and as they kissed and held each other in the cargo-hold of the Titanic, she hoped beyond everything that they would get a million more days just like this. 


	11. Iceberg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody freak out at this chapter title I promised y’all a happy ending, no one is dying

Ben was trembling as he pulled out of her an unknown amount of time later, breathing shakily as he looked down at Rey, who was now leaning back against the seat and catching sight of the fear in his eyes. Both of them were still panting a little, most likely from how short of breath their nerves made them around each other rather than actual physical exertion, but still, he thought it counted. 

The last hour had been the most intense, whirlwind experience of his life. Having Rey in his arms, tasting her, and being  _ inside  _ her were three of the most holy moments he’d ever had the privilege to witness in all his days, and he wouldn’t soon forget it. The sound of her voice as she moaned his name, the feeling of her hands gripping his hair with an iron fist, and the sensation of her cunt wrapped around his cock—

How could anyone ever forget that? How could  _ he  _ forget how it felt when his knot swelled inside of her, locking them together until it eventually went down? 

“You’re trembling,” Rey observed, pulling him close as if she thought he was cold. Technically he was, once the air had begun to settle in the car and the steam began to subside, the temperature dropped significantly, but that didn’t matter now. He was shivering for entirely different reasons, for how intensely and deeply he realized he was in love with her. 

“Don’t worry about me,” he replied, leaning in to press his forehead to hers. “I’ll be all right.”

Chest heaving, Rey managed a laugh. “You want to try this somewhere that isn’t a car next time?” 

A grin lit up his face as he gave her a brief kiss. “I’d love to.”

“Not that this wasn’t fun,” she replied, then she let one of her hands come up to rest on his chest, undoubtedly feeling his heart beat beneath her palm. “This was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life. I don’t regret a second of it.”

“Neither do I.” Shaking his head, he pulled back, and looked into her eyes. “Rey, I know it’s only been a few days, but I–“

“I feel it, too.” Smiling up at him, she bit her lip. “A few days ago, I never would’ve thought something like this was possible, but now when I picture my life after leaving this ship… I can’t help seeing you in it.”

_ God _ , life after Titanic. Yes, he’d made the decision to not marry Bazine and to go with Rey, but what did that mean exactly? Was he giving up all his riches? Would he never speak to his mother or return to his stateroom again? He wasn’t sure what it meant; all he knew was that two very different worlds were blurring together, and he and Rey were at the center of that blur. They were the root cause. 

He wasn’t sure how he was going to incorporate her into his life, how their two vastly different classes would fit together, but he would have to figure it out because he needed her, too. Whatever life lay ahead for him, he wanted her to be a part of it, and in that moment, he knew what he had to do. 

When the ship docked, he was going to leave it all behind to start a life with her. It was insane, but it was also the only thing he could think of that made sense. 

“We should probably put our clothes back on and get out of here,” Rey said after a couple of seconds of silence. “Those guys in the boilers didn’t exactly look happy to see us and I have no desire to be arrested again.”

Wincing, Ben pulled off of her, and began reaching for the clothes he’d discarded on the floor. “I’m sorry about that, I should’ve said something sooner.” 

“Don’t be, you were in shock,” she replied, resting a hand on his arm as she grabbed at her own clothing. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

He still felt guilty as he pulled his trousers on, his legs feeling warmer instantly as he buttoned them, and thought back to the night they’d met. “I wasn’t myself that night. I was so lost,” he said, then he reached down for his shirt, watching her muscles move as she put on hers. “Thank you.”

The corners of her mouth twitched up at that, then she rubbed his shoulder, her hand warm against his skin. “It was an honor, just don’t make me lift you again, you’re quite heavy.”

“Pfft, thanks.”

“You’re welcome, now could you move a bit faster? The longer we stay here, the better our chances of getting caught,” she told him, then she began to dress more quickly, and he followed suit, both of them hurriedly putting on clothing as they worked to avoid a complete disaster. 

Once his clothes were on, he looked at her, taking a moment just to watch her as she buttoned up the last button of her blouse, then redid the laces of her boots. Rey truly was beautiful, he thought, and she might not have known it, but anyone looking could see it. The crowd he ran with might overlook it when they saw her in favor of turning their noses up at her lack of wealth, but he could see it clear as day. 

The fact that he was also very much in love with her only served to enhance this, but he was certain he’d find it true regardless. 

“You ready to go?” he asked a few seconds later, offering her  _ his  _ hand this time. 

“Born ready,” she replied, then he reached over, and pushed the door open, jumping out before he put his hands on her waist, and helped free her from the confines of the car as well. 

“You all right?”

“Perfect,” she replied, slipping her hand back into his and lacing their fingers together. “I wish we didn’t have to leave.”

“Me too.”

An unexpected laugh escaped her then as they began to walk away, and she looked back at the car. “You know, I feel bad for whoever owns that thing. They’re going to get it returned to them and the upholstery will smell like sex.”

Laughing along with her, Ben reached out to open the door that would lead to their exit. “And your heat, my rut, all those pheromones…” 

“My god, we’ve just ruined a perfectly good car.”

“I wouldn’t feel too bad about it,” he told her as they walked down a short hallway leading to a stairwell. “Everyone who owns one of those things is an ass.”

More laughter erupted from them both as they walked up the stairs, leaning into one another as they made their way out of the ship’s beating heart, and back to the surface. Even from a distance, he could feel the cold from the surface, making him almost dread going up there, but neither of them was ready to go back to his stateroom yet, and he desperately wished to see the stars. 

He’d been wanting to kiss her beneath them for an entire day now. He wished he’d done it the night before after the party, but he hadn’t, he’d been a coward, and still in denial. 

That night, however, he’d kiss her until the sun rose if he wanted to, he’d kiss her until the ship docked. The world could’ve gone on around them, but they’d still be entwined in each other, the way he’d always wanted them to be. 

Eventually, they burst forth onto the deck, laughing as the shock of the cold air hit them, and they huddled up even more closely against one another as they walked out beneath the stars. All around them was pitch black, but above they could see the stars glittering, shining like tiny beacons in the night sky as they came to a stop, and took them in. 

Rey pointed up after a couple of seconds, then she grinned at him. “There’s Perseus,” she told him, and he felt a surge of happiness rush through him as he realized that she remembered everything from the night before, his whole body shivering with delight as he wrapped his arms around her waist. 

“Yeah,” he replied, feeling his smile reach his eyes. “That’s Perseus.” 

Looking up at the constellation, the world had never felt more right. It seemed as if after so much time spent being confused and lost, he had finally made sense of his world and his life, he finally knew what he wanted and needed, and it had only taken him nearly thirty years. “Rey?”

“Yes?”

“When this ship docks, I’m getting off with you,” he told her, his smile growing a little wider as her face lit up like the stars above. 

“This is crazy.”

“I know, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said in agreement, then he pulled her in a little closer. “But it feels right.”

“It does,” she replied, then she wrapped her arms around his neck, rose up on the balls of her feet, and kissed him. 

It was just as good as he’d hoped it would be, possibly better. Around them, the wind whipped into a frigid blast that had him shivering through his clothes, but he didn’t care as long as he had her warmth to protect him. The air nipping at his lips should’ve been painful, but as they caressed hers, he found it rather pleasant, and as she stole breath from his lungs, he melted in spite of the cold. 

This kiss, with the stars watching and the universe forgotten was his favorite that they’d shared so far. Since relieving their bodies temporarily of the pain of their cycles, everything felt much more peaceful, much more  _ real.  _ He felt like they were able to be themselves now that they’d scratched the itch, and now their kisses could take on a much softer edge. They weren’t kissing with any kind of determination or mission, but with a simple desire to share a kiss and hold one another. 

Her fingers brushed over his mating gland then, making him think back to when they’d been in the car and half-considered mating each other. Would she want to do it now? Would that be something she wanted with him? That was all stuff they could figure out later, for now, they just needed this, or moments like this where they could just kiss and kiss and kiss until time stood still. 

A soft moan escaped him as her tongue swept along the line of his lower lip, and he invited her in, kissing her fiercely as he felt the ship move suddenly beneath their feet. It was a slight shift, he didn’t think anything of it, but he could feel them starting to turn to the port side.  _ Odd.  _ Perhaps they were making the shift to the south for their arrival in New York.

Whatever it was, he didn’t give a shit, he was more concerned with making sure the woman in his arms was well and thoroughly kissed, he didn’t have any concern for the Titanic or the sudden turn beneath his feet—

A great rumbling sound brought him back to reality, accompanied by a small feeling of the entire ground shaking as if the ship was experiencing a small earthquake. The shock of it made him break apart from Rey, concern furrowing his brow as she looked back at him with the same emotion, both of them confused as to why the ship was vibrating beneath their feet. 

“What the hell?” he whispered, then the rumbling behind him grew louder, and he turned around to see a massive wall of ice blocking his view of the stars. Jaw falling open, he watched as a few chunks of ice fall onto the deck, and he and Rey both jumped back several steps to avoid getting hit as the ship brushed past the massive thing he soon realized was an  _ iceberg.  _

“Holy shit,” Rey breathed, clinging to his arm as the two of them watched in disbelief as the massive berg passed them by, the shave a little too close for comfort. 

Eventually, their part of the ship had passed the iceberg, and they ran up to the railing as one, neither having to ask the other if they wanted to take a look before they crashed into the railing, and watched as the massive block of ice disappeared into the night. “Do you think we hit it?”

“Felt like it,” Rey replied, then she gave him a nervous laugh. “We should be fine, though, right? They said this ship’s unsinkable.”

“Yeah, unsinkable,” Ben said softly, though somewhere deep in his gut, an uncomfortable feeling began to stir that told him this was far from over. “But I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” 

The iceberg was gone, out of sight but not out of mind, but something deep down told him this night was only just beginning, and the White Star Line’s promise that the Titanic was unsinkable was an empty one. 


	12. Women and Children Only

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God this chapter battled me today. I think I wrote most of it in the last forty five minutes and the first third of it over three hours. It fought me but I won!

Howling laughter escaped Rey as Ben kicked a piece of the ice across the deck towards her, both of them trying their best to get it past the other in an odd sort of attempt at a game. In the five minutes since the ship had struck the ice, they hadn’t noticed any obvious signs that it was sinking, and so the two of them began to kick it between each other as if they were children. 

An underlying current of anxiety filled her as she kicked the ice back to Ben, noticing that in spite of them not currently being in the water, the ship had come to a stop. Perhaps they were just assessing the damage, but how long was that supposed to take? When would the ship be moving again? She had no idea, all she knew was that worrying about it was doing nothing good, and so she put her focus into this little game she was playing with the Alpha who was currently grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“You’re going down, Solo,” she teased, watching as he kicked it toward her again. 

“You wish, Rey…” Pausing his movements, he let the ice skirt on past him, earning her the victory in their little game. “I don’t know your last name.”

She laughed, then she shook her head as she walked toward him. “I don’t have one. I was an orphan. I’ve just been telling people I’m Rey for as long as I can remember,” she admitted, then she shrugged. “I’ve never really had a last name.”

Taking hold of her hands, Ben pulled her in close, and kissed her knuckles gently. “Perhaps one of these days after we’ve had a bit of time together, you’d be willing to take mine.”

Surprise filled her as she looked up at him, then she shocked herself again as she nodded. “Yeah, one day,” she said, then he was grinning again as he wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing their bodies together as a cold breeze blew past them. 

Together, they began to lean in closer, ready to steal another kiss on the ship’s deck, when suddenly voices filled their ears, then he pulled away, watching as the ship’s officers and captain made their way down the bridge toward them, each of them appearing more stressed than the last as they walked down the deck with the same man she recognized from dinner the previous evening. She couldn’t hear much of their conversation, but she could hear that they were “Taking on water in the front, we’re going down bow first…” and that was enough. 

“How long do you think we’ve got?” Another man asked, maybe the captain. 

“An hour? Two of the pumps hold out,” the first voice replied, then the three of them disappeared, rounding a corner and fading from sight soon after. 

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” she asked Ben, pressing a hand against his chest as the officers passed them by. 

“Going down,” he whispered, almost absentmindedly as he placed one of his hands over hers, holding it tight as if seeking comfort. “So much for unsinkable.”

“We have to tell people.” Then a sharp exhale of disbelief left her lungs as she looked at him, still unable to believe what she’d heard. “I need to find Finn and Poe, and you need to tell your mother. I know things are tense between you all now, but—“

Nodding tersely, Ben cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips, then he took in a deep breath. “I agree. I’ll go into my stateroom, find my mother, retrieve your sketchbook, get her and Bazine to a boat, and find you.”

“And l’ll find Finn and Poe. Then you.” It was a good plan, but a part of her still felt odd about it, like she had something to lose by letting him go now even though they’d be seeing one another in minutes. “Promise you’ll see me again soon?”

“I promise,” Ben replied, then he leaned in, and gave her that kiss he’d been intending to give her before they’d been interrupted with the news that everything was about to fall apart. 

Though she knew they were short on time, Rey hurried to return the kiss, holding him close as his lips found their rhythm with hers, and he held her back just as tightly. For all they knew, everything could have gone wrong, and this could’ve been the last time they saw each other. If it was, she wanted it to be memorable, she wanted to have something to look back on and remember him by, a memory to get her through the time ahead. 

Yet even as everything began to fall apart, she knew her worries were just that—worries. They were not fact; Ben wasn’t going to disappear on her, she would see him again. 

With that in mind, she pulled away from him, then they both nodded to each other, and took off in opposite directions to their respective parts of the ship. They had a rescue mission, after all, and if they ensured that they and the people they cared about were among the first people to get aboard the lifeboats, surely that increased their chances. Didn’t it?

As she made her way to the third class entrance and then threw the door open, she wasn’t sure. All she could think about was getting to Finn and Poe’s bunk as she rushed down into the ship’s depths, running as fast as her feet would carry her past the common room and into the living areas. 

It was odd how silent the ship was now that the engines were off. There was a sort of deathly quiet, an odd calm, but it felt like the sort that accompanied a great storm—the foreboding and scary sort of calm. 

Walking down the hall, Rey felt her heart skip a beat in her chest as the lights flickered, but she walked all the way down to the end in spite of it. Finn and Poe’s room was at the end of the hall near the stairs that led further down near the squash court deck, and as she knocked on it, she looked down those stairs at the hall below, hearing a strange rushing sound in her ears accompanied by dripping. 

Water soon entered her vision, and her heart stopped as she watched a thin layer of it wash over the floor below.  _ Oh god.  _ The ship was really sinking, wasn’t it? The man above deck hadn’t been joking when he said they had just an hour or two left, had he? This was real—the nightmare was real. Everything she’d feared was about to come true. 

Panic setting in, she began to knock on Finn and Poe’s door with a renewed urgency. “Open up!”

Eventually, after what felt like forever, the door opened, and a very sleepy Poe with mussed hair emerged looking rather pissed at the fact that he was awake at this hour. “What the hell do you want?” 

“Poe, I know this is hard to believe, but you and Finn need to put on your coats and come with me, the ship is sinking,” she said, then she looked back at the slowly rising water on the floor below, and stepped aside so he could see it. “We don’t have much time.”

Brows furrowing, Poe stepped out of the room, wrapping his dressing gown around himself a little more tightly as he leaned forward over the stairs, and looked down to the water. Eyes going wide, he rushed back in, flicking the lights on as he hurried over to Finn’s bunk, and shook the other Omega awake. “Finn, wake up, we have to go.”

A moan escaped him, then he turned away from Poe, facing the wall as he pulled the sheets up and over his face. It honestly would’ve been funny if the situation at hand weren’t so desperate, and people down the hall weren’t already starting to come out of their rooms because they’d noticed something was wrong. “Go away.”

“Finn the ship is sinking, water will be coming up the stairs at any minute, we’ve gotta go,” Poe whispered, and  _ that  _ got their friend moving. Within seconds, the two men began to get their things together, pulling on their coats and hats as Rey watched with a growing anxiety. 

The water at the base of the stairs continued to rise, soon coating the first few stairs with its icy, slightly green color as it rose up toward them. Luckily by the time it reached the fifth step, both of her friends had finished getting ready, and she gave a relieved sigh as Poe handed her his spare coat. “You’re too kind,” she told him as she put it on, then held out her hand. “Come on, we have to find Ben, I told him we’d meet him.”

“Ben, huh?” Finn asked, taking one of her hands as Poe took the other, then the three of them made their way down the hall at a brisk pace. “So he found you?”

“Can’t you smell it on her?” Poe replied, chuckling as he sniffed the air dramatically. “You’ve been having a great night up until now, haven’t you?”

A blush creeping up her cheeks, she turned her eyes to the ground as the three of them made their way toward the main stairwell. “Oh, you have no idea.”

Snickering, Finn patted her shoulder. “You’ll have to tell us about it when we’re out of here.”

“If we make it out,” she muttered bitterly, though given the lack of reaction from either man, she suspected they either hadn’t heard or they were too lost in their own worrying to acknowledge it. 

**

Up in the first class, Ben burst into his stateroom, causing the two women inside to shriek from their shock as he appeared before them for the first time since they’d eaten lunch together that afternoon. At least they were both there, and he didn’t have to go looking for them. Everyone in his party was present in the room, even the butler Bazine had hired.  _ Good.  _ That would make things significantly easier. 

“Mother, Bazine,” he said, bowing his head to each of them. “We need to get above deck. Something’s happened.”

“Yes it has,” his former fiancé replied, striding forward with her hands on her hips. “Where the hell have you been all afternoon? We’ve been worried sick!” She then sniffed the air. “You’re in rut… and…” Another sniff. “Have you been with an Omega? Were you with the woman from last night?”

“Bazine—“ his mother interrupted, but the questions kept coming. 

“Are you abandoning us? Me? Are you trying to make me look like a fool?” She was livid now, likely unleashing anger that had been building up for hours. “What is this?”

Scoffing, he shook his head. “Bazine, the mere fact that you’re more concerned with the fact that you’ll look foolish than the fact that your engagement is ending speaks volumes about why this has to end,” he said, then he closed the door to the stateroom behind him, not wanting anyone in the hallway to hear this conversation. “And yes, I was leaving you. I have a connection with Rey beyond just the physical. I’ve probably been in love with her since the moment we met.”

“You can’t be serious. She’s worth nothing!” Bazine protested, then she let her hands fall to her sides as she looked at his face. “That doesn’t matter to you, does it?”

“She’s everything to me,” he confirmed, taking another step forward as thoughts of Rey consumed his mind. “Everything. Now, Bazine, I know you’re not a bad person if a bit stuck in your own class, so you must know that if we were to have gone through with our engagement it would’ve only benefited us financially. We didn’t love each other. We never would’ve.”

Bazine fell silent, eyes falling to the ground as she nodded slowly, but still didn’t acknowledge it verbally. 

“But that doesn’t matter now, there’s something more important.”

“Ben, you said something had happened,” his mother interrupted, then she walked forward, placing a hand on her son’s arm as she approached him. “What is it?”

“The ship is taking on water, it’ll sink in less than two hours,” he told them, and even the usually emotionless butler gasped audibly, a gloved hand coming up to cover his mouth from shock. 

“You can’t be serious,” Armitage replied. “The bloody ship’s unsinkable.”

“No ship is unsinkable, sir, I assure you.” Ben swallowed back the lump that was growing in his throat as that nagging feeling that everything was about to fall apart once again tugged at his mind. “I saw the iceberg myself. I promise you, this ship is going to sink. We need to get above deck. I want to see you all off to lifeboats and then find Rey. After that, Bazine, Armitage, you and I will likely never see one another again.”

Bazine shook her head. “This is impossible,” she said, then before he could say anything else to refute her claim, there was a knock at the door. 

Holding up a hand, Ben turned back to the door. “I’ll get it.” Then he walked over, and opened it to reveal a surprisingly calm looking steward—notably holding several life-belts in his arms—on the other side. “Good evening.”

“Good evening sir, we are requesting that everyone on the ship put these on and report to the deck immediately,” the steward said in response, handing Ben a life belt before he walked further into the room, and passed one out to the other three people in it. “There is no need to panic, we’ve likely just thrown a propeller. I’m sure we’ll be back in our beds shortly.”

Another shocked little gasp escaped Bazine, then she looked at Ben as the steward left them behind. “You said we were sinking.”

“They’ve probably just got him saying that to keep people from panicking,” Leia replied, then she looked at her life-belt, and sighed. “Either that or the poor lad doesn’t know.”

Ben shrugged as he made his way toward his bedroom. “He probably doesn’t know,” he said, then he gestured behind him. “Everyone, get your coats. It’s rather cold out tonight.”

With that, the Organa-Solo party readied themselves for their time outside, putting on their coats and then life-belts as quickly as they could before they made their way up to the deck. Ben held out his arm for his mother as they stepped out into the cold air, feeling some comfort as she took it, and they approached the first lifeboat they could see letting people on, disappointed that a crowd had already formed. 

“How long have you disliked Bazine?” his mother asked as they walked slowly down the deck. 

“I wouldn’t say I disliked her.”

“But you didn’t want to marry her. Why did you agree to it?”

“We needed the money— _ you  _ needed the money. Without my father, we were floundering.”

“Oh, Ben,” she breathed, squeezing her son’s arm as she looked up at him. “You should know I only ever wanted you to be happy. If you didn’t want to marry her, you should’ve just said so.”

A flush colored his cheeks again as a thorough feeling of embarrassment rose within him. “So you’re not angry then, that I’ve fallen for someone else?”

“I could never be angry with you, Ben,” she replied, then she offered him a kind smile. “Besides, I rather like Rey. I think she’d make a fine addition to our family. Your father certainly would’ve approved.”

The corners of his mouth twitched at that. It was true, his father really would have approved of Rey. She was exactly the sort of woman he would’ve gotten along with given their similar wit and street smarts. The banter they would’ve had if they were allowed the chance to meet had him chuckling to himself as he imagined it, but alas, his father had been dead for years now, and some things just weren’t meant to be. 

“He would’ve,” he said as they finally reached the crowd around the lifeboat, then their attention was caught by a familiar sounding voice calling out his mother’s name from nearby. 

His and Leia’s heads both turned in unison to see Amilyn Holdo making her way toward them, and his mother let go of his arm to embrace her friend as a relieved sigh escaped the other woman. “Oh, it’s so good to see you. I was worried I’d look like a fool actually coming out on deck for a thrown propeller.”

“Trust me, you’re no fool for being here,” his mother replied. “My son said the ship was going down, that we’ve struck an iceberg.”

Amilyn’s eyebrows rushed toward her hairline as she looked at him. “Is this true?”

He gave her a solemn nod. “I’m afraid it is.”

“Oh, that’s… that may be a problem, then…”

“Why?”

“They’re only letting women and children onto the lifeboats at the moment. We can get on, but… You and your butler will have to stay behind.”

And suddenly the world was swept out from under him as if the ground was a massive rug. Sure, they likely wouldn’t have this method of letting people on the boats in place forever, but it would surely be more difficult to make sure Rey got on a boat and ensure his own safety at the same time.  _ Fuck,  _ he really had to find her now. He needed to let her know this immediately, especially since she also had her two friends to worry about. 

Luckily, his mother seemed to understand exactly where his mind went, for she laid a hand on his arm, then gave him a knowing look. “Go, Ben. I’ll make sure Bazine and I get on this boat. We’ll be safe. Go find her.”

Guilt crossing his expression, he leaned forward to press a brief kiss to his mother’s cheek, then tore off in the direction of the third class entrance at a hurried pace. “I’ll be right back!” he cried over his shoulder, then he rushed through the door, and hurried on down the stairs, hoping and praying that he wouldn’t be too late to find her. 

Or worse, that he wouldn’t be too late to save them both from the ship he knew was rapidly disappearing beneath the waves piece by piece. 


	13. The Sinking

There was a fucking gate blocking her and the other third-class passengers from exiting the ship. Midway up the staircase, beyond the last of the third class decks, there was a fucking black gate barring them from the rest of the ship, caging them like animals. 

Panic began to rise in Rey’s chest as she saw the crowd of passengers behind it, then she clung to Finn and Poe’s hands as the three of them pushed their way to the front. She wasn’t sure why they kept going up, it wasn’t like that would help them get any further than that gate, but she didn’t want to just stand back there and do nothing. 

“Shit,” she breathed, gripping the gate in her hands as she listened to the chatter of the crowd behind her. 

“What do we do?” Finn asked from her left side, then she looked at him with what she knew to be fear in her eyes. 

What the hell  _ did _ they do? It wasn’t as if they had the key to unlock it with, and there wasn’t anyone around to free them. They were trapped, well and truly trapped, and it would only be a matter of time before the water below rose up to drown them. 

It was a terrifying situation she’d never thought she’d be in, and though she loved Finn and Poe, the part of her that was devoted to self-preservation above all else wished she’d stayed in the upper decks with Ben. Maybe she wouldn’t be in mortal peril if they were still together, maybe she’d be able to rescue her friends from the other side. 

Dwelling on that now, though, would do her no favors. She had to focus on getting out of there. Surely that gate wasn’t invincible, there had to be some other way, some other method of escape that would—

Footsteps sounded from above, rushing down the stairs at a rapid pace, and hope filled her long before she ever saw the person’s face. Pressing her own against the gate, she began to shout, praying whoever it was would come their way and they weren’t just passing by. “Hey! Hello?” she cried, shaking the bars. “There are people down here!”

The footsteps grew quiet for a couple of seconds, then she heard them resume again at a slow pace, and a pair of well-dressed legs entered her vision shortly before the broad form of Ben Solo filled her eyes with delight. “Rey?” he asked, then upon spotting her, he rushed down the remainder of the stairs until he too was pressing himself against the gate, his hands covering hers as a big grin broke out on his face. “Oh thank god, I’ve found you.”

“I’m glad to see you, too—“ she started to say, but she was interrupted when he leaned forward, and captured her lips in a brief kiss where she was pressed up against the cheap metal. 

Fortunately, kissing her seemed to break him from the reverie he’d been in, and he looked at her and around them to see the gate and all the people behind it. “What the hell is this?”

“I don’t know. They’ve locked the exits apparently,” she said, then she grasped desperately at his fingers, two of hers wrapping around one of his as she shook her head. “Ben, you have to help us. Water’s already rising on the lower decks. It’ll reach us before we know it.”

“What do I do? I don’t have a key.”

At this, Poe interrupted, and pointed down the hall. “Somewhere down that way is one of those axes they have on the wall for emergencies. Break the glass and bring that here, then chop it down,” he said, and Rey looked at him with a relieved look of pure delight. 

“That’s genius.”

“That might work,” Ben added, then he held up a finger. “Wait here, I’ll be back soon.” Then he ran down the hall as the two Omegas beside her shared a laugh. 

“Where the hell does he think we’re gonna go?” Finn muttered beside her, then the two men burst into another round of laughter as the distant sound of glass breaking filled their ears. “At least he’s quick.”

Ben’s footsteps rushed back to them a few seconds later, and she’d never been more relieved in her life to see a man wield a fucking axe. The part of Rey that was still in heat, the part that wanted to return to the car that was likely now underwater and strip off his clothes found it rather arousing, and in spite of the situation, she could feel herself grow just a little damp in her underwear.  _ God damn it.  _

“Good, now start swinging,” Poe told him, then Ben gave them a nod. 

“Get back. All of you.”

Realizing that they were about to be in the way of a massive Alpha swinging an axe, Rey, Finn, and Poe all backed into the crowd, shouting for them to move back as they all retreated down the stairs, and Ben made the first swing. Fierce grunts escaped him as he did it again and again, the metal of the gate coming apart more and more with every strike he made against it. 

Soon the structural integrity of the gate became weak enough that Ben was able to tug at it with his bare hands in order to rip it from its foundations, tugging on it thrice before it gave way, and the gate fell to the floor. 

Relieved cries escaped the three Omegas and the other passengers around them, then as the crowd surged forward, Ben stepped off to the side, but Rey rushed to meet him, instantly wrapping her arms around his neck as she jumped into his, and kissing him fiercely. Joy and pride courses through her veins as his arms wrapped around her waist, and he lifted her from the ground, his lips never breaking from hers as they spun around. 

As she grew dizzy from the kiss, she felt him smile against her lips, then his hand was caressing the base of her skull, and they really didn’t have time to kiss like that, but she didn’t care. She was just so relieved to see him, to have him in her arms again, to be reunited, that she let herself steal that moment. It wasn’t as if the Titanic would be sinking completely within the next thirty seconds after all. 

A throat cleared behind them, and she and Ben broke away to see Finn and Poe staring at them both with a mixture of smirks and looks of disappointment on their faces. “If you’re quite finished, we have a sinking ship to abandon,” Poe reminded them, then Ben chuckled nervously as he set her down, the two of them exchanging one last touch of their palms to the other’s cheeks before they laced their fingers together, and the Alpha at her side suddenly developed a somber look on his face. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked, concern furrowing her brow. 

“Above deck, Amilyn told my mother and I that they were only allowing women and children on board. Three out of four of us won’t be allowed on the boats,” he told them, then her heart dropped in her chest as she realized what that meant. She had a guaranteed ticket off of this boat, but something in the way e spoke made her think there really was a good chance he didn’t. “And there aren’t enough boats. They told us as much when we toured the ship this morning.”

_ Oh. Oh god.  _ That meant there was a chance the men of their group wouldn’t make it. They’d have to beg and plead to even have a chance, and maybe they would, but they were going to have to go through hell first. 

“Fuck,” Poe breathed, running a hand through his hair, then he looked between the three of them. “What do we do?”

“Keep climbing up and pray they let us on board, if not, we get Rey in a boat and then wait for the call for men to board,” Ben replied, causing Rey to scoff immediately in response. “What?”

“If you think I’m leaving any of you behind, you’re insane.” She shook her head, then held his hand a little more tightly. “The three of you are the only thing I have. If one of us gets on, so will the others, and I will fight to stay on this god forsaken boat if I have to.” The other three blinked at her, then she swallowed. “We go together. We’ll build a boat from fucking deck chairs if we have to, but we’ll make it. I’m not losing you. Any of you.”

Ben’s mouth shifted as he looked at her, then a loud creaking sound came from around them, and she swore she could hear the heartbeats of everyone still in the hall racing. “Okay, let's get to the surface then, the ship’s starting to tilt. We have to go.”

“Right,” she said, then she tugged on his hand, leading them both up the stairs. “Come on.”

**

By the time they got to the surface, the ship’s tilt had increased rather dramatically and the deck was much more chaotic than it had been when he’d gone down there to rescue Rey. There were still boats loading people, but each and every one refused him and her friends, and she was still stubbornly refusing to get on. 

A part of him considered that maybe he ought to force her hand, that he needed to try some other method of getting her onboard a lifeboat so he could at least know she was safe, but he knew just from the look on her face that she’d break his nose if he tried. 

So they stayed, and the ship kept tilting, shifting more and more on its bow until there was a significant incline up to the stern, and water rushing up toward him. Fear began to rise in his heart, but then as the last of the boats already attached to the sides of the ship left, he caught sight of a group—seemingly a mix of men  _ and  _ women—trying to grab hold of one of the collapsibles resting above the deck. 

Sending an opportunity, he took hold of Rey’s hand, the others quickly following suit as they rushed over to the over to the boat, running as fast as their feet would carry them even as freezing cold water lapped at their feet. 

“You weren’t kidding,” he told Rey, climbing up on top of the collapsible as he worked to untie the ropes holding it to the deck. “This water is fucking freezing.”

All she gave him in response was a brief chuckle before they were interrupted by someone crying out for a knife, chaos erupting further as they watched Finn pull one out of his pocket, and start to saw through the ropes. Thinking fast, he took the rope in his hands on either side of where the Omega was sawing through, pulling it as taut as he could with all of the strength he had until the rope was cut. 

“Turn it over!” He cried when it was done, then he jumped off the upside-down boat, attempting to lift it, to turn it over, but then he noticed something. The collapsible mechanism on the boat was failing and the boat didn’t seem to want to turn over regardless. If they wanted to use this boat, they needed to climb on board and get creative with rowing. 

“You’re thinking something,” Rey said beside him, still doing her best to help him turn the boat over. “What is it?”

“This thing will still float upside down. If we can get it into the water, we can start rowing away from the ship before it sucks us down,” he replied, then he repeated the same information to Finn and Poe. “We need to push it further into the water and get on.”

The former of the two gave him a nod in spite of how hard they were all shivering from the cold, then he placed his hands on the boat. “Okay.”

“This is not how I thought I’d get you wet,” Poe joked as he too placed his hands on the boat, shouting for everyone around them to do the same as Ben resisted the urge to laugh in spite of the severity of their situation. 

Luckily, there wasn’t time for him to linger on his laughter. The second the boat was floating, they had to get on it, and the Alpha hurriedly gathered his friends at the center of the boat as one by one, people began clambering on, even a few of the ship’s officers. Using jackets, coats, and other items they could find in the water, the passengers began to work together to pull their boat away from the sinking Titanic.

There wasn’t much all thirty of them could do, but Ben did his best to help, stripping himself of the jacket beneath his coat before he wrapped it around his hand, and plunged it into the icy water, helping the other twenty nine or so men propel them away from the ship that was steadily sinking beneath the waves. 

Once they were at a small distance from the ship, Ben pulled his hand out of the water, needing a brief reprieve from the cold and wet waves, and he took the chance to look back at the Titanic, which was still lit up like a candle, illuminating its nearly violent tilt into the ocean in full view. Heart racing faster, Ben shuddered as he looked at Rey, then back at the ship, watching the stern, the place where she’d saved his life just a few days earlier, as it rose higher into the sky. 

Crawling up onto the very top of the boat, he pulled her into his arms, the Omega’s heat warming his frigid body as icy air descended over them, and she started to hold him back. “I still barely believe it,” she whispered to him, her hand pressing against his chest as if she were trying to feel his heartbeat, trying to reassure herself that he was alive. “This all feels like a dream.”

Resting a hand over hers, he sighed as he pressed their heads together, his head resting over her crown as they fell quiet for a moment, listening to the horrifying sound of the passengers’ distant screams. “You think we fell asleep in the car? That we’re still there?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, lacing her fingers with his. “I was sort of hoping we’d wound up going to bed, or maybe to a party. I never did give Amilyn her dress back. We could’ve partied with your lot.”

A soft laugh escaped him, then he looked down at their joined hands, and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. We’ll see her on whatever ship rescued us, but she’ll never see that dress again.”

“No, she won’t, I left it in my room.”

“A dress doesn’t matter. What does is that we’re alive. We’ve made it,” he told her, holding her a little more tightly as the Titanic’s bow pitched further beneath the waves, the slant of the deck so severe now that he could see people starting to slide down it. 

Behind them, he could hear the officers who’d climbed aboard their boat ordering them to row faster, and Ben was just reaching down to help them again, when suddenly the Titanic’s lights went out, throwing the world into darkness. A great scream sounded from all around them, and suddenly the men who were rowing began to row even faster. Without hesitating, he joined them, feeling Rey slip in beside him as the two of them listened to the distant sound of people screaming growing louder for a moment. 

This was it, he knew. This was the moment in which the ship that was supposed to take them safely across the Atlantic, the ship that was supposed to be unsinkable, finally went under. 

For a moment, the world was surprisingly quiet aside from the distant shouts and the hurried rowing of the passengers shoving their hands into the water. There were no engines, no soft chatter, and none of the other sorts of white noises that he’d always heard on the Titanic over the last several days since he’d boarded the ship in Southampton. 

It was the loudest sound in the world, but it was also  _ nothing.  _

At least, it was, until suddenly a great cracking sound filled his ears, loud enough that even at a distance of what must’ve been close to a quarter of a mile from the ship, he could still hear it clear as day. Even from there, he could see the ship’s silhouette, and for a moment, his breath was stolen away as he realized the damned thing was splitting in two. It took several blinks for him to realize that he wasn’t hallucinating as he saw the blurry, black shape of the stern fall back against the water, then his jaw fell slack as he held tight to Rey’s hand, ceasing his rowing as the ship rose up in the distance, and began to almost bob in the water like a cork. 

“Holy shit,” someone said behind him, and he thought it might’ve been Poe or Finn, but he didn’t care to check. He was a little too preoccupied by the sight before him, watching as the silhouette in the distance began to shrink, fading inch by inch beneath the waves. 

“All those people,” Rey whispered, then as the last of the ship disappeared beneath the waves, she buried her face in his chest, and held him close against her, both of them sighing at the feeling of each other’s body heat as the screams in the distance rose up like a haunting choir. 

“I know,” Ben whispered, then he pressed a kiss to her temple. “But we’re alive.”

“We are.”

“Rey?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she replied, then she shifted in his arms so that they were in a proper embrace, holding one another as the boat began to drift on into the night, the thirty people shivering on top of it rocking back and forth as they prayed for some kind of resolution, some kind of rescue…

Some kind of hope that they’d survive the night, that they wouldn’t freeze to death, and that someday they’d make it into New York harbor and be waved at by the Statue of Liberty as they’d thought they’d be on board the Titanic.


	14. Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell how tired I am by the fact that I named this final chapter ending lol

The boat somehow managed to keep them from the water for the next several hours, which in all honesty was a small miracle, given that it was upside down. She was just grateful to be alive, grateful that Ben was there and holding her, that she’d gotten Finn and Poe out. 

They’d been incredibly lucky to escape. She’d seen how many people hadn't, how many people had been trapped on the ship until it sank beneath the waves. So many were dead now, and all because there hadn’t been enough lifeboats for everyone on board. 

Burying her face into Ben’s neck, she let the Alpha’s warm hands rub up and down the back of her drying coat, brushing off the ice as it formed, and he hummed softly in her ear, the melody unfamiliar and yet soothing all the same. “Go to sleep, Rey,” he whispered, the sound of people rowing their little boat on into the night filling his ears. “I’ll wake you when we have to get on the rescue ship.”

Yawning against him, she gripped his coat a little more tightly as he tried to spread as much warmth to her as possible. “But we have to help row.”

“We’re about to link with the other boats. We’ll be okay,” he whispered, then she felt him press a kiss to her forehead. “We’re going to be okay.”

“You p-promise?” she replied, her whole body shaking so badly she wasn’t sure how she’d ever manage to sleep, but Ben’s body heat was definitely helping. He was so warm, so firm, so gentle, and as one of his hands came up to cover her ear—which she’d started to think was going to fall off from how fucking cold she was—she realized that maybe it was okay to melt into him. 

This was going to be an impossibly long night, there was no use prolonging it by staying awake through the misery, so she closed her eyes, and leaned into the Alpha providing her shelter from the cold. Slowly, surely, sleep took her over, consuming her as she melted into warm touches and his heartbeat. 

Hours later, she woke to Ben gently shaking her arm, and as she blinked awake, she was surprised to see sunlight shining down on them from the East. Shock filled her as she realized she’d slept through most of the night, but that wasn’t what he’d woken her for. His breath ghosted over her ear, and she watched as he pointed a long finger toward the south. “Look,” he said, and so she did, catching sight of a large ship—though it was tiny in comparison to the Titanic—approaching them, the name on her side declaring this ship to be the Carpathia. 

“We made it?” she asked softly, her voice raspy from disuse. 

Another kiss was pressed to her temple, then his thumb rubbed against the base of her skull. “We made it,” he confirmed for her, then the lifeboats carrying the last of the Titanic’s survivors began to make their final approach toward the rescue ship. 

“Ben?”

“Hmm?”

“When this ship docks are you sure you still want to get off with me?” she asked, still not knowing for sure if what he’d said had just been a spur of the moment declaration or an actual vow. 

The corners of his mouth twitched as she sat up, and looked him in the eye. “Rey, I just told you I love you. I’m not going anywhere if it’s not with you.” Then he pressed another kiss to her cheek. “We’re leaving this ship in New York together, I promise.”

A relieved sigh escaped her lips, then she placed a hand on his cheek, and pulled him in for a kiss. It was a little bit awkward this time, their lips were horribly chapped and blue from their time out in the elements, but it still felt good and right like kissing him always did. It made her body flood with heat, reminding her that later that day, they’d need to find out if the Carpathia had any cars in its cargo hold for them to christen. 

That thought had her smiling against his lips, a sure sign that in spite of all they’d endured, they were going to be just fine. They had survived the sinking, and as they continued to kiss through the approach to their rescue ship, she had a feeling that they could survive anything. 

**

Once they were on board the Carpathia, he immediately began a search for his mother. Promising Finn and Poe that they’d find them later, he took Rey to the first class section to try and hunt her down. They got several weird looks from the officers separating the classes in the process, especially with regard to Rey’s clothing. Sure, her coat was kind of nice, but anyone looking could tell she didn’t hold a first class ticket. 

Luckily, Ben was very intimidating when he wanted to be, and with a single glare he was allowed to search the first class area for signs of Leia Organa while his Omega laughed at the memory of the officer’s frightened face. 

“I thought he was going to shit himself then and there,” she told him, more helpless giggles falling from her exhausted lips. “You gave him an awful fright.”

“He deserves it. He tried to prohibit me from seeing my mother, and I think the two of you deserve a reintroduction,” he said, placing a hand over the one she had on his arm. “She gave me her approval, you know, to be with you? She said she liked you. In spite of all the pretense and play acting we were all doing night before last, you made quite the impression.”

The corners of Rey’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Really?”

“I would never lie to you, Rey.” He squeezed her hand, then as they made their way through the aisles of shaken passengers, all gathered in a massive room he thought must’ve ordinarily been used as a ballroom, he paused, and moved his hand up to support her chin. “You saved my life and prevented me from marrying the wrong woman. I owe you a great debt.”

“You owe me nothing, I’d pull you over the stern of a thousand ships.”

“Perhaps, but I still owe you my thanks.”

“I think I can accept that at least.”

Smiling, he began to lean in, then when he was close enough that she could tilt her head forward and kiss him if she wanted to, he paused. “I can work with that,” he whispered, then he was kissing her again, smiling against her lips as they found their rhythm, and for the first time in so long, he felt well and truly  _ happy.  _ They’d survived the sinking, they were going to make it to New York, and they were finally going to start their lives together. 

Of course, before the kiss could grow too intense and they could properly begin this life, the sound of a throat clearing nearby filled his ears, and without needing to look, he knew it had come from his mother. Breaking the kiss, he pulled away to see a very tired but very alive Leia Organa looking at him fondly as she placed her hands on her hips. “I see you made it.”

“Mother,” he breathed, then he let go of Rey, and rushed forward, sweeping his mother into his arms as relieved sighs escaped them both. 

In all his life, he’d never been more relieved to see another human being. Everyone he’d ever cared about in his life was in one room, on one ship, and they were finally safe from harm. As his mother held him in his arms, he started to feel like everything was falling into place, like his entire life was sprawling out before him with a clear path, but this time it was blissful, exciting, and he could tell every day would actually be different from the last. 

He had everything he needed, and he would never want for anything again. 

The next few days passed in a blur. By sheer luck, he and Rey were given their own private space thanks to their state of being, and so while there were no cars in the cargo-hold for them to christen, they were at least able to pass by their cycles without pain. 

Those few days he felt like he really got to know Rey, that they were starting to forge a real bond that he could see becoming something more sooner than either of them expected. By the time the captain made the announcement that they’d be pulling into New York that evening, he felt more confident than ever in his decision to stay with her. 

The bond between them had grown strong, and as they walked out on the deck, rain pouring all around them as the Statue of Liberty came into view, he knew it was only just beginning. 

“The ship’s about to dock,” he told her, his arm wrapped around her waist as rain began to soak through their clothes. 

“It is.”

“You still getting off with me?” he asked, squeezing her hand as she leaned into him. 

“You still in love with me?”

“Always.”

“Then there’s your answer,” she said, then he laughed as they watched the ship get closer and closer to their destination, bringing them at long last into their life together, into the forever he knew awaited them. 


End file.
